The Death Walkers
by Swan's Catastrophe
Summary: With the help of a handsome, dangerous, vampire and a sadistic yet lovable Death Walker, Echo will have to rally the courage to face the secrets of her past and save the other side from massacre. While indirectly adding fuel to an explosive love triangle.
1. Chapter 1

_**New Story. Its my own idea, so no stealing. Don't go to hard on me- and leave reviews if you like it.**_

_**P.S. I know not all of the facts are right in this story, but go with it. I am writing fiction, after all. And this happens to be my universe, so I can do whatever I want lol.**_

_**P.S.S. The first few chapters may be a tad boring. But I want you to get the information before any action, so just bear with me please!**_

**The Death Walkers**

**Prologue**

Echo's parents died the day before she was born. Echo, was born at exactly 1:15 am on a crappy morning in a small town outside of Portland, Oregon. Her parents, died at exactly 12:27 on the previous night. They were heading to the hospital after Echo's mother had gone into labor, and collided headlong into another oncoming car. The only survivor, was the undelivered baby still in her mother's stomach. Within hours, the child would have died as well but a mysterious stranger saw the wreckage, and somehow knew of the child that was still alive. They cut the baby out of its mother's stomach and delivered it to an orphanage. Thus, Echo was born. But the child was not normal, which would be expected of someone who should have died that night along with her parents- her troubles were far different. Echo was afraid of everything, and everyone. She could see things that no one else could. She knew things that no normal human ever could. Echo was able to sense death. And not only sense it, but she could _see_ it. To her, everyone was rotting, slowly dying with each day. There was a reason for this that no one else knew. The truth was, she _was_ supposed to die and was in the process of dying when her savior came; ripping Echo's soul in two. Half of it went to the underworld, and half of it to Earth. So Echo was gifted with the Sight. When she was five, Echo was adopted and in that same year, was sent to an asylum for the insane on one of Canada's many small islands in the north. Her story starts twelve years later. In that same asylum.

I pressed my head against the freezing stone floors of my cell and tried to concentrate. What was going on?

I was getting nervous. Usually, this would be the time when the "patients" were able to walk around the asylum freely. But I was still in my small, pitch-black , freezing, cell. So for the time being, I was trying to get some sleep in and ignore the prickling in my back that always came when I was about to get a visitor. In my entire twelve years spent at Proklam Asylum I had received only one visitor. _He_ came once every six months to talk to me and ask me questions about my _**gift**_. I always had mixed feelings about this man. I enjoyed his company because it was the only company I ever got. But at the same time, being alone with him terrified me to my very core. Victor, the man, didn't have a soul. Cold radiated off of him like an aura, yet he was alive. This puzzled me because his heart beat only once every sixty seconds, he hardly ever breathed, he had no lifespan like the others, and his black eyes held a fierce viciousness that only came when someone had been to the Other Side. So, by all accounts, Victor should already be dead. Yet here he was, walking into my cell and giving me a curious look.

Victor.

The only person on the planet that could make me self-conscious about the way I looked.

He let out a whistle of breath and stared at me.

_Here comes the jokes_, I thought to myself. Victor never missed an opportunity to make fun of my completely eerie appearance. I looked like an old hag at the age of seventeen.

My skin was almost as pale as Victor's, and my hair was just a shade lighter than my skin. Yes, I had white hair. Not gray, or silver. White. I usually had a slender build, although at the moment, it was more skeletal looking. I was 5'7; just tall enough to appear willowy. And had a naturally pretty face- heart-shaped, high cheek bones, button-nose, and no blemishes. And then there were my eyes…

You see, I wasn't always this pale- and I sure as hell wasn't born with white hair. I was sort of experiencing 'the gold fish effect'

I had been left in the dark for too long and I was now turning albino. Thankfully, my eyes weren't red- they were just a lavender purple from the natural blue color my eyes had, being diluted by the red and white glaze.

I was a freak of nature.

Now Victor, on the other hand, was the epitome of perfection. From his all black apparel to his rich, creamy, white skin, angular face, dark black eyes framed by long black lashes that made me jealous, and a head topped with messy-yet perfect eyebrow length black hair.

He casually leaned on the wall across from me.

"Jesus, what are they feeding you in this place?" He asked staring somewhat repulsed at my rail thin figure.

I shrugged from my place on the floor.

"I don't know, I haven't eaten any of it" I replied sleepily

Victor sighed exasperatedly.

"Did you read the books I gave you?" He asked/growled

I nodded and smirked "Remind me to stay away from Kelpies next time you take me on one of your little adventures"

Victor rolled his eyes, bored of my coaxing.

"Whatever. Come on get up, we need to go" He said in his naturally deep, and sultry voice.

"Where?"

"On another one of my adventures. Only this time we aren't going to the Other Side. Yet. And you aren't coming back here once it's finished. We're getting you out of here" He replied.

My brows furrowed.

"I don't want to go out there" I said coldly.

"You don't really have a choice" Victor hissed, his face contorting; he paused and added more calmly "Why not?"

"Because, they'll all stare at me. The freak girl with white hair and purple eyes. They'll call me a witch" I said disdainfully.

"I thought you read the books" Victor replied

"I did"

"Than you should know that witches look nothing like you-"

"They don't know that" I interrupted.

Victor pinched the bridge of his nose. A sign that he was losing his patience.

"So you know what I am as well?" He asked

I paused and stared at the wall. Had I read a chapter that described Victor?

I thought for a second before muttering.

"Vampire"

Victor flashed a pearly white smile that vanished as soon as it had appeared.

"Most people would say that with at least a hint of fear" Victor offered.

"Yes, well, from what I've read if you wanted to kill me or suck my blood or whatever- you would have done it by now" I said

He raised an eyebrow.

"For your sake," He growled "I hope you're right"

This time when Victor smiled, I saw two teeth elongate into razor sharp looking canines designed for flaying someone's throat. I shivered.

"I also know what you did" I said quietly. Victor humored me.

"And what was that?" He asked.

I stared into his eyes.

"My parents weren't rammed by another car. You rammed them. You stood in the middle of the street, knowing that they would be speeding because my mother had just gone into labor. And you let them hit you. The momentum completely smashed the front of the car and sent it rolling three times. Then, you ripped me out of my mother's stomach and dropped me off at an orphanage. And now, you come visit me once every six months to check up- out of guilt or some other twisted reason" I said icily. I didn't want to believe that it was true, but it had turned out that there was an actual _witch_ in the asylum with me. We had brushed arms in the lunch line once, and she had seen my entire past, present, and future. She'd only gotten to tell me about what had happened to my parents before the nurses sedated her (she was extremely agitated) and wheeled her back to her room. But even still, I hadn't wanted to believe that Victor could've done something like that, and yet:

Victor froze and his face hardened into an unreadable mask. After a few moments of tension filled silence his eyebrow raised and there was a feint hint of a smirk on his face.

"Smart girl" He commented. I resisted the urge to smack that smirk off his face. It was his fault that I am the way I am. It's his fault that I have no parents. It's his fault that even now, I would still do anything for him.

I _**hated**_ him.

Victor walked across the room and lifted me to my feet in one fluent motion. I wobbled for a few moments before almost collapsing but Victor caught me.

He muttered something in Italian. It sounded like he was cursing.

"First thing's first," He growled once he was sure I could stand, "We're getting you something to eat.


	2. Chapter 2

_One Week Later._

I was attempting to eat my third hot-dog, but Victor's eyes on me were extremely unsettling. It's amazing how different a person can look in broad daylight compared to almost complete darkness. I could see features and quirks about Victor that I hadn't been able to place before. And all of them sent little alarm shivers through my nerves- screaming _Run! Danger!_

Like the way his eyes never stayed rooted to one thing for long, they were always scanning, searching for something. And his face was always breaking into random, disturbing smiles that immediately disappeared, as if his thoughts amused him. And then there were times like right now, when he was staring at me with so much intensity that it was disarming. I finally gave up and with a sigh put my hot dog back on my plate.

"What?" I demanded, somewhat coldly. Victor seemed to relax and leaned back in his booth.

"I was just wondering how long this was going to take," He supplied "I'd prefer we didn't spend another hour in a run down diner in the middle of nowhere and I'd prefer that you take a shower before we board the plane to the states. We can't have you looking like that"

I glared at him indignantly.

"And why are we going to the states?" I asked through clenched teeth. Victor stared at them for a moment before bringing his eyes to mine. And with a slow, infectious smile he replied.

"It's where we need to go. And I have a place there that you can stay while I prepare everything."

My glare didn't falter. Just when I was starting to like Toronto, we had to leave. And just where did he get off, dragging me out of my cage without telling me why or what he needed me for? The other jobs had been fairly easy, like searching for ghoul thieves or forsaken humans but Victor's secrecy was making me think this was a whole lot bigger.

"Are you ready to tell me what we're doing yet?" I hissed. Victor raised an eyebrow at me and then went back to folding his napkin into a tiny sailor's hat.

"No" he replied. My brow furrowed.

"And. Why. Not?" I snarled. This amused Victor and I watched as a small smirk tugged at his lips.

"Because, if you knew what we were doing, you probably wouldn't help me. You already know what my job is on the Other Side - to keep order. But what's happening there now goes beyond my jurisdiction. That's where you come in" He replied cryptically. I rolled my eyes.

"Victor, cut the bullshit or I am walking out of here. I already said I would help. But I need to know what it is I'll be helping _with_" I said solemnly. I saw something flash in Victor's dark eyes, but it was gone before I could tell what it was.

"Fine" He conceded bitterly and then continued in a hushed voice "The Other Side is being taken over by Death Walkers. Death Walkers, are exactly like you- I mean, you are a Death Walker. In other words, A person whose soul has been split, half on the Other Side, half here. Able to walk the paths of life and death without having to choose between them, blah blah blah. These ones…are different from you. They were more dead than they were alive when their souls split so there is a bigger pull towards the underworld for them. They're using their abilities to overrun the Other Side and we need them destroyed or gone forever. That's where you come in, you need to infiltrate them, learn their skills and weaknesses and then report back to the council and me when you have enough information to conquer them."

He stared at me, probably waiting for me to say something but I couldn't. The words were frozen in my mouth.

I couldn't do that!

I couldn't go somewhere and pretend to be everyone's friend and confidant and then betray them.

_They've killed people._ A voice in my head argued. Yes, I hear voices- it doesn't mean I'm crazy.

_They weren't people, they were either dead or undead._ I replied.

I bit my lip and a deep frown creased my forehead as I felt a churning in my stomach.

I've never been a good liar. I always blush and give myself away…

"Victor-I…" I couldn't force any words out. Victor, probably sensing my stress, rolled his eyes and leaned towards me.

"Problem?" He whispered. I nodded.

"I can't- lie!" I nearly shouted "And I can't betray them. I've seen it in movies, it's impossible. I'll learn to see things from their perspective, you'll doubt my allegiance- in the end they'll find out that I was planning to betray them but they'll forgive me because I'll redeem myself by saving everyone. And then you'll feel you have no other choice but to kill us all, but we'll kill you first and then they'll get what they want and I'll be on their side and you'll be dead" I said quickly.

A real smile graced Victor's face. Not one of his disturbing ones or a snarl, but a real-amused-smile. It was beautiful, and then it was gone.

"Okay-" Victor paused, looking like he was trying not to laugh "Okay, look. That would never-" He started laughing, and the sight of him laughing made me laugh.

Once he had calmed down, he looked at me expectantly and I blushed.

"Stupid, I know. I just don't want to mess this up." I said

Victor looked pleased.

"Yeah, you don't have to worry about any of that happening. There's enough destruction going on over there that it would be impossible for you to see from their perspective. And if you somehow did, I'd kill you before you could betray me. And if that, somehow, didn't work. I wouldn't be anywhere close to getting myself killed- he flashed a disarming smile- I look out for me and me only."

I half huffed, half laughed.

Vampires…extremely selfish creatures if you ask me.

"Alright let's go find me a shower" I sighed, rising from the booth seat. Victor sighed too.

"I thought you'd never ask"

I was lounging on one of the beds in our motel room when Victor walked through the door and, I could almost swear, he gaped at me for a fraction of a second.

I smirked and raised a sarcastic eyebrow.

"Amazing what a shower can do, hm?" I stated.

And I wasn't kidding. My hair fell down my back in thick, snowy waves. No more rats nest. And both my skin and eyes seemed to be glowing. Victor raised his own eyebrows appreciatively and made a deep 'huhm' sound.

"You smell like lavender and jasmine" Victor commented

I shrugged and lay back down.

"Oh no, no, no" Victor cooed walking towards me "No resting. You have studying to do"

I fought the sneer that was trying to force its way onto my face.

"For what?" I demanded. Victor rolled his eyes skyward and threw a stack of large books at me.

"Believe it or not, your kind can do a lot more than simply traveling between realms and '_seeing dead people'" _

Victor said the last part in a whisper of mock fright. My eyes narrowed.

"Such as?" I tempted.

Victor made a swatting motion with his hands as if my question annoyed him and he could swipe it away.

"Necromancy, Possession, Summoning, Astral Projection, you name it." He said in a strained voice "At the moment, your brethren have raised an undead army and made rubble of the city Tauran in the underworld- in case you were wondering"

I bit my lip. And he wanted me to go in there? Where they could raise armies of the undead?

Victor stared at me coolly.

"Whatever" I grumbled. He smirked at me and walked to the door.

"Come on, you can read those at the airport. We have a plane to catch."

By the time the cab pulled up to Victor's penthouse apartment in New York my stomach was doing nervous little flips and I was shaking slightly. From the adrenaline, or fear I couldn't tell.

Victor glanced at me from the side as he opened his door.

"I have a present for you" He said as he stepped into the apartment, I followed and had to resist the urge to run back out into the hallway screaming. Bounding toward me was a _**huge**_, _**huge **_vicious looking black dog with glowing yellow eyes and three spiked tails. I knew I wouldn't make it to the door so I just ran and screamed until I was behind Victor, and he was between me and the dog…thing.

"Cilla- Stop." Victor said calmly. And almost instantly the dog sat and let its tongue hang out of its mouth. I peeked around Victor and stared at it. I noticed that its tails were almost as long as its body and looked like they could cause some real damage. The dog's body was pure muscle and it would have easily towered over me if it were standing on its hind legs.

Victor turned to me.

"What do you think?" He asked.

"What is it?" I answered with my own question.

"Cilla, here, is a hellhound. Extremely rare and _**very**_ expensive. If you take care of her, she'll take care of you. She is smarter than most humans and can understand everything you say, so don't insult her. She has all the basic commands down; watch, sit, kill, attack, heel, run, chase, etc. etc." Victor rambled. I quirked my mouth up and looked at the dog. She might be fun.

"Cilla, let me see you use your tail…on Victor" I said smugly. I still hadn't gotten to avenge my parents. So that was my own little passive aggressive way of doing it. Well, passive aggressive according to me. I'm sure to anyone else it would have looked just plain hostile.

Victor whipped towards me with fury and shock evident on his face but before he could step towards me there was a whooshing sound then a crack and Victor flew a good ten feet back. I let out an impressed whistle.

"Good girl" I told her. I turned to see Victor standing up, rather gracefully, and brushing invisible dirt off his shirt. His eyes met mine and they held pure rage. I brought my hand to my mouth to cover my smile; molding my face into that of mock apology.

He appeared inches in front of me. Black was emanating from him like and aura or a form of dark smoke. The dangerous look in his eyes wiped the smile completely from my face. Ohmigod. He was going to kill me. After a few seconds of standing in paralyzing fear- something just clicked in my head. I didn't care if he was about to kill me. I knew death better than anyone and I sure as hell wasn't afraid of it. It's not like I had anything to live for…

Victor sensed my change of emotions and softened a little. And by a little, I mean not at all.

"Apologize" He half snarled, half hissed.

"I'm sorry" I mumbled. I couldn't look at his face anymore so I just stared at his chest. It was then that I noticed that his black shirt had large gashes in it.

"You are paying for the shirt" He growled, then snapped his hand out and grabbed a handful of my hair, tugging me roughly against him. I whimpered and glared at him.

"And if you _**ever**_ try anything like that again" He said in a menacingly quiet hiss "I'll make you beg for death."

With that said, he pushed me away from him and I fell to the ground. I stared indignantly at him but he was already walking to the back of the huge apartment with his back to me.

"Get something to eat, and continue your reading. We have a realm to save" He growled over his shoulder.

I rubbed at the place on my head that he had grabbed and flinched when I heard his door slam shut.

Note to self; Never piss Victor off again. He's scary.

After staring at nothing in numb shock for a few minutes Cilla walked up to me and nudged my shoulder with her nose. Right, food for the both of us- and then reading. I stood up and brushed myself off. After sweeping my eyes over the large, airy building I turned to Cilla.

"You like steak?" I asked


	3. Chapter 3

I stared angrily at my plate as everything clicked into place and anger surged through my body. I had known for a week now what Victor had done- taken my family away, and _**he **_crept into my mind and blocked it from my memory, and then made me calmer about the fact that he killed my parents so that I would agree to help him. My nostrils flared.

Stupid, mother-freaking, son of a bitch! And then he gets angry at _**me**_ for retaliating. Oh, no. This is just the beginning. I will make his life hell. Stupid, selfish, arrogant dick. Finally, I couldn't hold my anger in any longer and flung the plate at the wall, watching as it shattered into a thousand tiny little pieces.

"You're paying for that too" Victor growled as he buttoned up a new black shirt.

"Why?" I demanded, feeling my fury bubble over. I was itching to rip his head off with my bare hands. Murderer. Liar. Sneak.

Victor looked taken aback

"Because. Those are expensive, and you broke them on purpose" He replied in an astounded voice- as if the answer should be obvious.

"I'm not talking about the damn plate Victor! Why did you kill my parents, and why did you keep me alive- only to watch me be dragged off to some nuthouse in the armpit of the world so I could rot? Did you laugh silently to yourself? Was it your own little joke? Pretend to be my partner. Act like I can confide in you, all the while you're laughing in my face. It's your fault I'm like this. It's your fault I'm alone. _**You did this to me!**_" I screamed.

Victor just stared at me with wide eyes and a shocked expression on his face. And then his mask was back on. Stony and cold.

"Sit down, and shut up" Victor said coldly. I glared back.

"Don't you _**dare **_tell me what to do, you filthy piece of shit. I hate you." I said walking towards the door defiantly. Cilla followed me with a wary glance towards Victor. I paused at the door.

"If I ever see your traitor face again I will set you on fire and dance on your ashes." I called over my shoulder as I slammed the door.

I didn't stop walking until I was far away from Victor's apartment. It was dark now and I steeled a glance at Cilla. I held in a small gasp. She looked like a normal dog. One tail. And two brown eyes.

The streets were almost deserted now and I slowed my pace as I began to feel a familiar buzzing in my head. That buzzing always signaled death. And this one was stronger than I had ever felt. I looked around as the sounds of old battles echoed through my head.

And then I realized where I was standing, once I looked up and saw the large letters: Central Park. Over my head.

I sat down on a bench after walking for awhile and stared out at nothing. Was it possible?

Was this an old war site and were people…_**dead**_ underneath me?

A shadowed figure approached from my left and Cilla let out a long growl. I squinted at the man and then let out a growl of my own.

"Cilla" I said simply, and the dog immediately stood at attention. Victor put his hands up in surrender.

"Stop. Just stop, Echo" He said in a completely different voice than I had ever heard from him "Don't you want me to explain"

I glared back.

"Not really. I just want you dead" I replied and nodded to Cilla who raised her face in a snarl and took a threatening step forward.

Victor cursed under his breath.

"I'm really regretting buying you that dog" He said darkly.

Cilla stepped forward again, her teeth glistened under the lamp as she snarled at Victor.

"You asked 'why' I came to answer your question. I can't do that if I'm dead, Echo" he said reassuringly

I shrugged.

"I'm a little past explanations" I sneered.

Victor pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Just. Let. Me. Explain."

I jutted my chin out defiantly. "There's a bit of a problem, there Victor. Because I don't trust anything you say, besides you'll probably just do your stupid, sneaky mind thing and screw with my head until I agree with you and forgive you"

Victor's eyes widened in an extremely annoyed way not in a shocked or frightened way.

"I would have done that already if I thought that it would work" He said pointedly through gritted teeth.

I mulled it over for a few seconds before relaxing.

"Fine. Explain yourself. You have four minutes- after which, if I am not satisfied with your excuse, I will have Cilla rip your throat out. Which is funny in an ironic kind of way I think. Usually it would be you, ripping someone's throat out" I shrugged

"Yes, that's a brilliant and completely useless idea. You won't be dissatisfied with what I have to tell you…well maybe a little, you seem to be a bit touchy on the issue of your parents- just an observation. But anyway, yes great. Now let's go back to my place so I can tell you everything" Victor replied in a slightly urgent slightly annoyed voice.

"Why, what's wrong with telling me right now. Right here"

"Um" Victor said quietly "I'd prefer that the faeries in these parts did not get a hold of this particular information."

I rolled my eyes and stood up from the bench. Victor seemed to relax a little.

"Let's go" I muttered

Victor said something in Italian and wrapped his arm around my shoulder glancing back. I frowned at his arm and was reminded of something.

"Why do you keep speaking Italian, isn't Victor a Latin name?" I asked

"Yes, but Latin is a dead language. And my father was Italian, my mother just named me."

"You had a mother?" I said doubtfully "I can only guess how proud she must be of her son. Stalking young girls in the dead of night, luring them to some dark secluded area, and sucking them dry."

Victor's eyes narrowed. "Shut up"

I faked a sympathetic expression.

"Looks like someone else is a little touchy on the subject of their own parents," I observed "Tell me, were they murdered before you were born? Did you know their names? Have pictures? Any sweet memories from your childhood? Hm?"

Victor glared at me and if looks could kill I would have burst into flames and been burned to a crisp by now.

"You know it must have been so nice for you," I continued "Having a home, people that love you, friends, an education…I spent my childhood being shipped from orphanage to orphanage. Teased on a daily basis- witch, Satan's child, _**murderer**_. And what did I have to call home? A fucking insane asylum for the presumably hostile. The one where they chain the patients to the wall and induce electroshock therapy to 'calm them down'. It was _**your**_ fault. I don't care what you tell me, because I will _**never**_ forgive you. You, you selfish asshole! I hate you!"

Victor looked like a cobra readying to strike and I took a precautionary step back. He mirrored my movements.

"Fine. I get it. You hate me" He hissed "But guess what? I don't give two shits what you think! I did what needed to be done in order to protect the balance"

"And what was that Victor? Murdering two innocent people in cold blood!" I screeched

Victor snapped. His hand flashed out and caught the collar of my shirt, he pulled me centimeters from his face.

"Your parent's names were Jack and Linda Fawx. They were both parapsychologists involved in the study of preternatural beings and creatures. They knew. Somehow, they found out about everything; the Other Side, the different beings, the ways we traveled from realm to realm. They found a way _**in.**_ And somehow escaped. If they took that information to someone who would believe them, think of the damage it would do! Our kinds are not meant to coexist. Werewolves, pixies, ghouls, faeries, vampires, every one of us kills humans. Your parents wanted to make the Other Side some sort of back up plan, for when the world here ended or something. They were going to send scientists and congress members- and everything that exists for us today would have been _**gone**_, Echo. The underworlders were planning a war. Our leaders sent me to…exterminate the problem. I didn't know she was pregnant. And killing babies is where I draw the line. So I kind of just, dropped you off and left. But then the council sent me to guard and watch you. Guard you because people on the Other Side hate your parents- the Fawx's reminded us all that we aren't as superior as we thought we were if they easily found a way into the other side and an exit without even being noticed. Some, were planning an assassination when they heard that the child survived. And I was assigned to watch you to make sure that you could be trusted and wouldn't run off and blab." Victor said coolly.

I narrowed my eyes at him, and turned to Cilla.

"Hit him, harder this time" I said, and again before Victor even registered what was going on- Cilla's three tails whipped out and hit Victor hard in the gut- he flew into a tree which made me smile a little.

"I'm taking the master bedroom." I said "I'll help you. Because unlike your sorry ass; I am a person of principles. But after I do this I never want to see you again. I don't want to see you- or any other Other Sider."

Victor looked as if he were about to protest but I cut him off.

"And if I decide maybe I like the ideals of the other Death Walkers better than your stupid council's. You won't do anything to stop me from wiping the floor with that realm until every one of you is dead. Because I'll kill you."

And with that, I raised my chin and walked back towards Victor's apartment leaving him staring after me with shock and exasperation etched on his handsome face.

Asshole.

I tossed for like the thirtieth time tonight in Victor's giant bed. It was _**hot.**_ I sat up to stare at Cilla curled up in a ball at the foot of the bed before collapsing back on to the pillow.

"Having trouble sleeping?" A smooth voice asked from directly beside me. I nearly leapt out of my skin and had a heart attack at the same time. I turned my head to stare into black eyes.

"What are you doing in here" I hissed.

Victor smirked. Apparently his asshole nature had no trouble finding its way back.

"Um, this is my bed" He said as if it answered everything.

"And?"

"And? _And_, I want it back. I'm sick of playing along with your little game. So get out. And get that damn dog out of here" He snapped.

My eyes narrowed.

"Get. Out. Now" I hissed.

Victor rolled his eyes skyward.

"Oh yeah, I'm really scared of a teenage Death Walker who doesn't even know how to use her powers. I'm only a seven hundred year old vampire after all." He drawled before turning his icy glare on me and flashing a disturbing smile "Now get out, or I'll make a midnight snack out of you"

"You get out. Or I'll have Cilla tear you up" I retorted.

Victor cursed under his breath as if he only now remembered the dog. Then he flashed another disarming smile and I watched his canines grow into fangs.

"Have it your way then" He snarled and scooted threateningly close.

I felt my anger surge. Who the hell did he think he was?

"Stop" I said sternly. Victor's hand flew out and curled around my hair, yanking my head to the side and exposing my throat.

My anger took a hold of me and somehow I managed to yank myself from Victor's grasp. I noticed a dark aura glowing around me and that it suddenly became very cold, but didn't pay any attention to it.

"_I said stop_" I hissed in a voice that I didn't even recognize. It sounded like two people-or things- speaking at the same time. A snake and a chain smoker.

Victor faltered and pursed his lips angrily. After a long drawn out stare down Victor rolled his eyes and let out a disdainful sigh.

"I'm not leaving" He said in a clipped tone.

"Well neither am I" I replied.

We stared each other down for a moment longer before both of us took to separate sides of the bed with a frustrated sigh. Suddenly the bed didn't seem so large.

"Goodnight" I snarled as I turned my back to him. He turned his back to me, leaving a good twelve inches of room between the both of us.

"Whatever" He snarled back. Victor's was a real animal snarl that sent shivers down my spine. I shook my head in annoyance and went to sleep.

Freaking vampires…


	4. Chapter 4

I woke up _**cold**_. Like freezing. I shivered against stone and raised my head from the covers. Hm, not stone; Victor's bare chest. How had I ended up on top of him? I shivered again and Victor opened his eyes. He tapped me lightly on the butt and smirked at my shocked expression.

"Off" He growled, I slid away from him to find that the other side of the bed was much warmer. Cilla curled up beside me and I could feel myself falling back asleep. I opened my eyes and stared at Victor. He was facing me with closed eyes and a partly open mouth. When he looked like that, so peaceful; so boyish, it was easier to forget that the man I was staring at murdered my parents. It was easier to wonder how his black hair would feel between my fingers, and if his lips would be soft and gentle against mine.

I shook myself. Why am I thinking like this?

Victor sighed but kept his eyes closed.

"What?" He demanded.

"What, What?" I replied.

He opened his eyes and I felt like I was staring into them for the first time.

Black. Endless darkness filled with little orbs of light. Like a star filled night. Right now they were filled with suspicion.

"What's wrong with you? Why are you looking at me like that?" He asked.

I shrugged, pushing the warm feeling that had surged up in my gut back down. This was not good.

I couldn't be…_**feeling**_ something for Victor could I?

Where the hell did it come from? How can I get rid of it? Victor seemed to catch my changed feelings and a small smile tugged at the corners of his lips.

"What, no snide remark or sarcastic reply?" He said with raised eyebrows.

I gnawed my lip nervously. I had to get out of here before I did something stupid. I began to pull myself out of bed but a cold hand wrapped around my arm and pulled me back down. Victor hovered over me with a curious expression on his face. His messy hair was sticking up in every direction. I almost smiled at how silly he looked. How sexy he looked.

Oh my god, what was happening to me?

"Get off me Victor!" I said breathlessly.

"I will…when I believe that you actually want me to get off" He said in a husky voice, his breath caressed my face and I stared at him with wide eyed panic.

"I do, I do! Get off please"

Victor smiled at me, one of his rare- _real _smiles_. _After a few seconds his mouth quirked up in thought and he raised his eyes to the wall before staring at me again.

"Fine," he said with a sigh "But first…"

And then he _kissed_ me.

My head was swirling. Should I kiss him back? Should I shove him off?

_He killed you parents_! One part of me screamed.

_Yeah, but he's sorry for it…I think,_ I argued.

Unable to come up with something to do I just lay rigid and enjoyed the feel of his lips against mine. I was right. He was gentle.

But at the moment I wasn't sure if the situation made me burst with joy or scared shitless.

He raised his hand to brush hair from my face and drew slow circles along my lips with his tongue. After a second that seemed to last forever of panicking, I finally just gave in and kissed him back. Kissing Victor was like…like, being knocked down by a huge wave and pulled to the bottom of the ocean, and then just as you're about to run out of air, you get back to the surface; full of adrenaline and feeling more alive than ever.

It was thrilling, and refreshing, and frightening. His lips brushed against mine one last time before he pulled away with a satisfied smile.

"No girl, no matter how reluctant can resist my charm" He said arrogantly as he collapsed back down on the bed, folding his hands behind his head.

I rolled my eyes. What had I just done?

"Shut up" I groaned, pulling a pillow over my face and screaming into it. I threw the pillow at Victor, and that still didn't wipe the annoying yet satisfying smile off his face. Annoying because he looked really happy, and satisfying because _**I **_was the cause. I got up from the bed, ignoring my lack of clothing. Spending almost an eternity in hospital scrubs that blew up and in all directions with the slightest of breezes had basically rid me of all dignity. Which was why, I was currently walking around Victor's room in nothing but a tank top and some underwear.

I needed to get myself some pajamas.

"Where are you going?" Victor asked turning over in bed.

Seriously? How many hours does a vampire need to sleep?

"To get me and Cilla something to eat" I replied.

"mmkay," Victor replied "If someone comes to the door let them in, I'm expecting a guest"

I curled my palm into a fist.

"Whatever" I said and reached for the doorknob.

"Oh and Echo," Victor called. I turned back to him and he smirked "You're not bad"

I narrowed my eyes and watched with slight amazement as Cilla used one of her tails to wrap around the doorknob and slam the door shut behind us.

"Impressive" I commended

Her big pink tongue flopped out and her tails wagged dangerously fast. I smiled at her.

Eventually, Victor arose. I had already finished my bowl of cereal and Cilla was in the process of removing the remaining pieces of raw steak from her chops.

Victor walked, or strutted, into the kitchen in his usual attire.

He wore an unbuttoned black shirt; showing off his toned chest (that was new), black jeans, black combat boots, and a wicked smile.

His smile faltered when he glanced at Cilla and he turned to me with an annoyed expression.

"Must we waste my very expensive steak on the damn mutt?" He growled, shaking his head as he opened the fridge and produced an 8 oz. bottle of blood.

"It's not like you use it for anything" I muttered with a shrug. Victor gave me a 'that's not the point, you idiot' look as he unscrewed the cap and took an enormous gulp from the bottle.

I watched the thick, slushy, red liquid splash around the bottle and imagined it sliding down my throat…

Before I realized it I was gagging, and I think I threw up in my mouth a little. Victor's face pinched up as he set the bottle down.

"That's a little overdramatic" He said coolly "But that stuff is pretty nasty"

He shuddered lightly.

"I prefer mine fresh and warm"

He raised his eyebrows and gave me a hopeful look. I returned it with a disdainful 'not going to happen' glare.

Victor clicked his tongue and put the bottle in the microwave.

"You'll come around" He announced with a knowing grin "They always do"

I rolled my eyes and cast a disgusted look at the microwave.

"Why don't you just go out and get blood yourself" I offered. Victor ran a hand through his hair and I watched as his ab muscles flexed with the movement.

"I already told you. I'm expecting a guest. And this guy doesn't wait around"

As if on cue, there was a knock at the door and Victor disappeared for a fraction of a second before he appeared with his hand on the knob.

"C'mon Wes, get in here" Victor said as he ushered a small _**kid**_ inside. Well he wasn't a kid- he was like my age- but still.

"Calm down. No damaging the human goods" The boy said, referring to Victor's none to gentle shoves inside. Victor smirked as he shut the door and waved me over.

"Here she is" He said as I entered the foyer.

The boy, Wes, stared at me with appraising eyes, after a few seconds he held out his hand

"Wesley Cho" He introduced. I smiled unsurely and took his hand in mine.

"Echo…"

"Fawx" Victor filled in after my drawn out pause.

Wesley adjusted his glasses and smiled at me.

He was tall and kind of lanky- obviously Asian, and had long raven black hair around his shoulders.

"Pleasure" He replied

"Yeah…" I said.

Victor sank down against his large couch.

"Wes here, needs to bug you" Victor announced "So that we know where to retrieve your body if you mess up"

He flashed me one of his disturbing smiles and I sneered.

"From what movies I've seen- whenever the good guy infiltrates the bad guys- the bad guys always scan them for trackers" I said

Victor shook his head.

"The Death Walkers won't be expecting another Death Walker to betray them" Wes answered "They believe that every Death Walker will see it their way. It's the shifters and ghouls that they're watching out for"

I pursed my lips and frowned at the floor.

"Well where's it going?" I asked

Victor gave me one of his priceless 'stop talking, you just look stupid' looks and I glared at him.

"It's not going anywhere. Wes has an…ability. He's going to connect you and I so that if something happens, I'll know. And then I'll be able to decide whether or not I like you better breathing or not" Victor said stoically with a hint of annoyance.

"Shut up- I'd like to get this over with…" I prompted, giving Wes a meaningful look.

Wes looked as if I had just woken him up from a dream. He smiled sheepishly at me.

"Oh, yeah sorry"

Wes took my hand and reached for Victor's, Victor yanked his hand back so fast I thought that Wes had done something to him. Wes gave Victor a displeased glare.

"Dude, seriously? It's part of the incantation" Wes scoffed

Victor glared warily at Wes before he hesitantly put his hand in his.

And then, without warning, Wes thrust my hand into Victor's. I felt as if I was being shocked wherever my hand touched Victor's -which was everywhere- and it wasn't necessarily a bad feeling.

Me and Victor both glanced up at each other with the same expressions on our faces; shock.

"What are you doing to us?" Victor hissed. Wes's brow furrowed.

"I haven't done anything yet!" a vexed Wes whispered back. Victor and I both retracted our hands as if we had been burnt.

"No, no." Wes said placating "This is good. Your connection is stronger so you'll have a stronger bond"

I cast Wes a suspicious glare before handing Victor my hand again.

Again, there was the feeling of sparks being set off in my blood.

I shivered.

Wes wrapped both of his hands around our joined ones and closed his eyes to concentrate. He mumbled a few words that I couldn't comprehend and then opened his eyes; signaling that he was done. I withdrew my hand and watched as a thin, black, aura looking rope grew between us; connecting us both from our hands. After a few moments it disappeared and I relaxed a little.

Victor reclined against the couch.

"Well, looks like we can go to the Other Side now" He said matter of factly.

I felt a whir of emotions but the most dominating two was the anxious excitement and the cold blooded fear.

I was going back to the other side.

The realm where there was constant darkness aside from the three moons that always stayed high in the sky. The realm where no normal humans were allowed and only cut throat supernatural's called it home. The realm where you could become a slave forever because of a lost game of cards. It was also the realm that hosted large, lavish parties and had the best food I'd ever tasted, and the most beautiful creatures I had ever seen.

I felt the shadow of a smile on my face.

Maybe this could be fun? I asked myself hopefully.

Victor smiled too. One of his disturbing smiles.

"Fresh blood"

I rolled my eyes.

I was beginning to think that Victor's behavior was not the norm. I was beginning to think maybe he was just his own kind of temperamental, hostile, annoying as hell, handsome, sexy, breed.

I raised my eyebrows at him expectantly.

"Well what are we waiting for? Let's go to the other side" I said, hardly able to contain my anxiousness.


	5. Chapter 5

_**So, I'm getting into the more interesting parts of the story- but with those comes violence (probably graphic) and maybe some sex? (probably not graphic at all)**_

_**Anyway I wanted to warn ya'll ahead of time so you don't like freak out at the sudden gruesomeness that is bound to come. And just tell me if you think it's getting a little too violent and if I should raise the rating. I don't think it'll come to that since I'm kind of a chicken and cringe at the stupidest acts of violence but still.**_

_**Three reviews before my next update would be awesome!**_

I woke up cold. Again. Only this time there was something comfortable and familiar about Victor's bare chest. I slid off with a yawn, only to have Victor turn over onto his side and pull me back against him.

"No" He murmured sleepily "You're warm"

I rolled my eyes but relaxed against him inhaling his scent.

Ah, the other side.

Even now I could see the faint white light of it's three moons through the window. I hadn't even known Victor had a house here. I vaguely saw the image of Cilla's three tails wagging lazily from the large chair in the corner.

Victor had forbid her from sleeping in bed with us. A demand that forced me to sock him hard in the arm. I smashed two of my knuckles and he barely felt it. Vampires…

And I don't even want to get into how we had to heal them. I shuddered delicately at the memory.

I felt a light tugging at my side and all of the sudden I was face to face with Victor. His dark eyes were staring at me intently.

"Today's the big day" He murmured bringing his nose to the crook in my neck.

I edged away from him.

"Yeah. So where do I go to meet them?" I asked. Victor made a sound that resembled both a chuckle and a scoff.

"You don't _meet_ them anywhere. You have to do something to get their attention. They find you" He replied

"Well what do I have to do?" I rolled onto my back and Victor climbed on top of me. This was becoming a vicious cycle.

He raised his head in thought for a moment before looking back at me.

"Probably…you'll have to posses a few residents here and have them kill themselves or something"

I stared at him in horror. Victor shrugged.

"I told you, that it would be impossible to see things from their perspective. They don't play games, they're out for the kill. And the leader- Callum- he's worse then all of them. He makes _me _look like the freaking Mother Teresa"

I frowned but didn't say anything.

Great, I'm going to have to act like a damn psycho terrorist.

"Have you practiced possession yet?" Victor inquired.

"I've know how to do it. I haven't practiced it" I replied sleepily, wanting nothing more than to go back to sleep. Victor sighed and easily slid his arms around my back and sat me up. I narrowed my eyes.

"What?" I groaned miserably.

Victor brought his face so close that our lips just barely brushed each others.

"Did you know that your heart accelerates a full twenty two beats when I'm close like this? Is it because you're scared or aroused, I wonder?" Victor mused, raising his eyebrows maniacally.

I was beginning to find it hard to breathe when Victor pulled away.

"Probably a little bit of both" He murmured to himself.

I rolled my eyes and tried to force the feeling of disappointment back down. No kiss?

Victor pulled me from the bed and onto my feet before sweeping me up into a kiss.

Gentle and soft. Hmm. I let myself relax against the feel of his lips and kissed him back as he brushed the hair from my face- deepening the kiss.

After ages of standing there in blissful…bliss. Cilla let out an annoyed growl.

Victor, seeming to take the growl as a challenge pulled me closer against him and forced his tongue into my mouth. For Cilla's benefit I'm sure.

I pulled away on wobbly legs and Victor stared at me smugly.

"Getting better" He said nodding in appreciation. I glared at him and left for the kitchen.

I settled for a muffin and threw Cilla's plate of steak on the table. She hopped up into the chair and began scarfing down the steak as if it was the first good thing she'd had in weeks.

Victor appeared in the door way of his room, he was pulling on a shirt and glaring at Cilla.

"Alright." He said turning to me, after he buttoned up his shirt. "Possess me"

I looked at him over my spoon of cereal.

"Huh?"

"Possess me." Victor said anxiously "You said you knew how to do it so do it"

"Why don't you just take my word for it" I replied

Victor rolled his eyes skyward.

"If you fail to perform as directed today I'll be forced to kill you…and the dog" He said bluntly

Cilla let out a menacing snarl and Victor glanced at her warily.

I propped my feet on the table and leaned back in the chair with a smug smile.

"Ehh, if it came down to you and Cilla- I'd have to put my money on the dog" I announced.

Victor snarled at me with narrowed eyes.

"Mess up and we can find out" He growled

I rolled my eyes and stared at the ceiling.

"Let's just get this over with" I grumbled

_

I never wanted to do what I had just done ever again. It was bad enough that I had completely perverted my favorite color- black- by dressing up like some lame ass assassin but then I had to go into the very center of town and possess everyone. A very tiring task.

And on top of that I had to make them do all sorts of crazy, appalling, violent things.

One guy actually stabbed himself in the eye with his own claw and then ripped his eyeball out of the socket completely. It took every ounce of my strength to stay put and appear malevolent and scary when all I wanted to do was run away screaming and crying. I wish I could be more like Cilla. Just kill on command. She doesn't feel bad about killing people, how could she. It's her job. What she was trained for.

I on the other hand could hardly stand to watch the complete anarchy that unfolded at the hands of me. Victor kept assuring me beforehand that everything I was about to do was necessary for the continuation of the society, but it was a little hard to believe after you just watched a woman quarter her husband with her bare hands.

Then came the part that was scary as hell.

I was alone. Victor couldn't come with me when I did the whole terrorist thing because he didn't want the Death Walkers to get suspicious, and I had Cilla kill everyone who wasn't dead yet so that they wouldn't suffer. So now, I was standing in the middle of town square surrounded by puddles of blood and lifeless corpses all bathed in moonlight and other than Cilla. I was alone.

I stared at the destruction around me with a mix of horror and awe. I had done this.

And that's when _they_ appeared. Literally out of nowhere, directly across from me there were the outlines of seven figures just standing there, watching me.

Cilla crouched low and let out a deep growl that I was sure the visitors could here from their place across the square.

I stood up straight and squared my shoulders. Their faces were shadowed in darkness, but I could see that there were three girls and four boys. One of the boys was standing a few feet ahead of the others. He was tall and had a muscular build from the looks of it. And then they all walked towards me. I fought to keep the defiant look on my face as they formed a tight circle around me. The lead boy, stepped into the light of them moon and I took an involuntary step back which thankfully muffled my gasp. Cilla was whirling her head from side to side growling and snarling at all of the newcomers.

The boy who stepped in front of me looked nothing like the leader of a terrorist group. He looked so…so _good_.

As I mentioned before he was tall, and muscular but not in a gross obnoxious way. Just in a hot way. His skin was the color of golden wheat and his hair was even more golden. It hung around his eyes and straight golden threads, curling near the tips. His eyes were dark sapphire the darkest blue I had ever seen, and there was something in them that screamed _danger_ even with the boy's unassuming look. From what I could see, he had only one flaw. A scar. It ran from above his eyebrow to just past his eyelashes on the furthest side of his left eye.

He smiled at me. A smile that made my heart race and my blood run cold.

I had done it. I had proven myself.

"I see you've taken an interest in our cause" They boy who I now assumed was Callum said. I shrugged nonchalantly.

"I'm not exactly sure what your cause is- those people were making my dog antsy. I was just looking out for her" I replied. He looked at me from the corner of his eye with an emotion bordering on amusement.

"Oh, I'm sure" he said sarcastically. I smiled.

"Our 'cause' would be to…redecorate. I guess you could say. You see, I don't think it's very fair that the asthenos humans get an entire planet to themselves and the supernaturals get an entire realm. But what do we get? Absolutely nothing. Kiera- he pointed to a girl in the circle- spent her life being ridiculed and sent from house to house in the human world for being a _freak_. And Rob, - he pointed to another person in the circle- spent his life feeling like he was never good enough to be allowed on the other side. We don't belong anywhere. We have no place to call home. So the way I see it, if they don't give it- take it. And that's what we're doing" The boy explained.

I had to admit, his logic was pretty believable. From an extremely selfish, self entitled kind of perspective.

"Did you ever think that maybe the reason why we don't belong anywhere is because we don't belong here at all?" I challenged "I mean, technically, we were all supposed to die. Maybe there is a place for us and we just haven't found it yet"

The boy looked as if he'd been asked this question one too many times.

"Perhaps, but I'm an impatient kid and not very inclined to wait and find out" He replied, flashing me a charming smile.

I narrowed my eyes but shrugged after a few thoughtful moments.

"Luckily for you, I'm not very patient either. How do I get in?" I asked. This time, his smile seemed to light up his entire face.

"You already are, doll face" He replied shaking my hand, "Callum Black" He introduced.

"Echo- no last name" I replied. Callum smirked.

"Yeah, you'll fit in just fine" He muttered, turning to the circle and motioning for someone to step forward. A girl stepped forward with a bright smile, she had razor sharp cut hair, colored electric blue with black. Her skin was the color of creamed coffee and I could tell she was biracial. Her eyes were dark and she was around the same height as me.

"I'm Lex" She said "No last name"

I nodded in greeting.

"I'm Echo- that's Cilla" I replied, she smiled looking kind of out of it.

"Cool, cool. I like your hair, man. Way rad"

I snickered and nodded a thanks. The girl stepped back into the circle and a boy stepped forward. He had pale skin, bright green eyes, and dark curly hair in his face.

"I'm Rob" He said in an apathetic voice. "I don't have a last name either"

"That's…cool" I said unsurely. I heard Callum chuckle from somewhere in the shadows.

Next was a blonde girl named Kiera, a dark skinned boy named Remy, a raven haired blue eyed pale skinned girl by the name of Willow, and a tall, scarily muscular bald boy named Chris.

"Now that we've all been introduced," Callum said, with clasped hands once everyone had their turn "Lets go back to the house. We have a big job tomorrow that's going to take all of us"

Callum winked at me once everyone started walking in the direction they had all come.

"Hey, toots. You comin or what?" He drawled.

I punched him lightly in the arm.

"No pet names" I said caustically. Callum smiled wider.

"Ooh, we got a feisty one" He chuckled "I like em' feisty"

"Oh, I'm sure" I said in the same sarcastic tone he had used on me earlier.

Even though this guy was really freaking evil, it was really freaking hard not to like him.

Callum laughed and casually draped his arm over my shoulder.

"You have no idea," He said darkly "Truly, no idea"

_**Okay so for those of you who were wondering asthenos means weak in Greek. So, yeah. Don't forget to review!**_


	6. Chapter 6

_**Um reviews anyone? I would like them a lot! This chapter was a little hard, and I'm not too happy with it. Hopefully the next one will make up for it.**_

I wasn't very sure what he was talking about, so I just fought a shiver and followed Callum and the rest of the group into a dense fog that had suddenly appeared out of nowhere.

_

I probably looked like a cartoon character, the way my head kept snapping back from the large mansion that had appeared on the other side of the fog and the now clear air behind me. No fog.

What the hell?

Callum gave me a knowing smirk.

"Looks like some of us know a few more tricks than others" He commented smugly. I looked at him bewildered.

"You did that?" I asked, unable to keep the awe from my voice.

Callum raised an eyebrow.

"Don't you worry" He drawled in a faint accent I didn't recognize "I'll teach you a few things before we're done"

I wasn't sure if that made me grateful or even more worried. Did I want to learn what Callum was obviously going to teach me. Callum stared up at the three moons high up in the sky.

"Kiera, you're rooming with Echo tonight. Go help her get set up" He commanded softly with ought even looking back at either of us. Kiera immediately took me by the arm and gently ushered me towards the mansion. When we were out of hearing distance she turned to me.

"Rule number one" she said quietly "Obey everything Callum says. If you don't, his consequences will be far worse than anything you can come up with in your head"

I gawked at Kiera as if she had grown a third head.

"But why is he the boss? Shouldn't we all be working together?" I asked

Kiera pursed her lips and shook her head.

"Callum's…different. Even from us. He has more power than I've ever seen, and it's scary. _He's_ scary. If there's one thing I've learned from being here it's this- Callum black never forgives and he never forgets. All I'm saying is tread carefully. Because before you came along, there was ten of us. The three others used to butt heads with Callum all the time, and then one day they just up and disappeared" Kiera whispered

I glanced at Kiera suspiciously. Was this some sort of test to see if I was actually for 'the cause'?

"If you're so scared why are you still here?" I asked adding a bitter and slightly irritated tone to my voice.

Kiera laughed half-heartedly. I called it.

She turned to me with a bright smile.

"Dang. That stuff usually works." She said sheepishly "The real rule number one is honesty; and Callum never says something he doesn't mean."

"Yep. I get it. Don't upset leader boy" I muttered boredly. God, everyone sounded like some weird Callum worshipper. What had he done- brainwashed them all?

Callum this, Callum that. All annoying as hell.

Cilla and I shared a glance and if I didn't know any better, I'd say we were both starting to miss Victor's dickhead humor right about now…

_

I was woken up the next morning by an annoyingly chipper voice screaming about some meeting in the foyer. Groggily, I raised from the bed (very zombie like I might add) and stepped tiredly down the stairs. The whole group was already down there except Lex, and everyone else was dressed as well. I looked down at my tank top and pajama pants clad body but shrugged lightly. Obviously I didn't get the memo that you were supposed to be dressed for these meetings- but I was too tired to really care.

Callum raised an amused eyebrow as I approached but didn't say anything about my apparel. Instead, he turned to glance at Cilla.

"What does she eat?" He asked lightly. I glanced at the dog whose head reached just below my shoulder and yawned.

"Steak mostly" I replied "But she's a hellhound. They eat anything as long as it's raw and meat"

Callum gave Cilla an admiring look and turned to Rob.

"Go get the dog something to eat" He said quietly, and I watched a bit disdainfully as Rob jumped to obey. If Callum expected me to follow his every order like that, he would be rudely disappointed. I didn't care how scary his powers were. It would be two against one with me and Cilla…assuming the other Death Walkers wouldn't be involved.

"Alright we've got a big job today" Callum announced in a booming voice.

That woke me up.

"You all received your jobs last night, failure is not acceptable. Everyone understand?" His speech was followed by many nods of the head and nervous mutterers 'yes'

I raised my hand and watched with slight annoyance as Callum fought to keep a smile off his face.

"A question Echo?" He answered with raised eyebrows.

"Not really. I just didn't get a job?" I replied, making my statement a question. A full smile broke out on Callum's face.

"Well that's cause' you're working with me today darlin'"

I felt the color drain from my face.

"Doing what?" I asked as the group of Death Walkers dispersed. Callum paused before turning back to me with a small smirk.

"Nothing you'll enjoy too much, I'm sure. It's gonna be a pain in the ass for me if it's any consolation. And you can bring your hound along. She'll keep a better eye on you than I will" He paused to smile at me "You know, the whole look out for yourself first thing"

I stared at him blankly before turning back for the stairs but Callum stopped me.

"Just dress for…scalding heat. So no shorts or tank tops" He called after me.

I grew rigid. This guy was going to kill me…unintentionally or not. I would still be dead.

_

I came back down the stairs wearing my "assassin" outfit from yesterday. Long sleeved black shirt, Tight black jeans, and combat boots.

I'm sure if Victor was here, we would match. Callum was waiting for me at the foot of the stairs with his hands clasped behind his back.

"We match" He said with a bright smile. I looked at what he was wearing and blushed.

"So we do" I replied.

We settled into an awkward silence and I idly played with the pockets of my jeans.

"So mind telling me where we're going?" I asked, raising my eyes to Callum and nearly jumping when I saw that he was staring intently at me. I think I was even more freaked out by the fact that he didn't stop staring even though I had caught him. After a second he smiled.

"Well, I told you it wouldn't be pleasant- and it won't. We're going to take a little trip to the states today. To a little town called Centralia in Pennsylvania."

I felt my blood run cold- but not just run cold. Freeze in my veins.

Centralia Pennsylvania. The place with toxic gases in the air and an underground fire that had been burning for like ever? This wasn't going to be pleasant at all! And if I actually survived whatever Callum and I were doing, I was sure that I would have nightmares for the rest of my life. Suddenly images were swirling through my head of all the horrors that I could only imagine were waiting for me in Centralia. I felt like there was something…some big point I was missing as to why we were taking this expedition in the first place.

After a second more of pondering, I came back to reality and met Callum's steady gaze.

"Screw the dog." I said glaring at Callum "I am now holding you personally responsible for anything that happens to me. And if I die- I will come back and haunt you until you eventually commit suicide"

Callum rolled his eyes.

"You girls…always so dramatic" He sighed "Yeah, yeah. Let's get this show on the road- pipsqueak."

I narrowed my eyes but followed him out the door. Cilla was so not coming with me, it would take forever to brush out charred fur. Besides I doubt even _she _would stand a chance against a burning inferno. And I wasn't going to risk it just because she was a "hell" hound. Of course going without her would leave me seriously disabled if something happened. I shut off my mental babble as Callum helped me into a large jeep.

"There's a portal about five minutes from here. So just make sure that you're thinking of Centralia when we're going through" Callum said as he buckled himself in the driver's seat and started the jeep.

"That shouldn't be too hard" I muttered caustically. Callum chuckled and started driving. I rested my head against the seat and started letting my mind wander.

What were we doing in Centralia? He still never answered that question.

What was _in_ Centralia? Were we going into the actual mines? That would be impossible. We'd die instantly. I wouldn't put it past him. He seems like the tortured almost suicidal type…

"It's coming up" Callum said softly as he pushed down harder on the gas.

Centralia, Centralia, Centralia. As I chanted the flashes of horrific images entered my mind again. Scorching hot fires, thick smoke, the feeling of suffocation, and then there were the other images. The ones of horribly mutated and burned people staggering towards me from inside the mine. The smell of there burning flesh. They were disgusting.

Skin in some places, muscle in others, and then in some areas there was only bone. Their eyeballs were engorged and had big bumps on them as if another eyeball was trying to grow, they had no throats, and long talon like fingers. Then the image changed.

I was inside the mine. It was hot, very hot- and I couldn't breathe. It was also extremely dark, the only light came from the faint glow of fire burning behind the mine walls; and I only saw those every so often as I walked. The mine walls were soft, and stretched like rubber. That wasn't right. They were also- as Callum had said- scalding hot. I could feel my heart pounding in my chest like a loud drum and faintly wiped the tears or sweat that was falling down my cheeks. Something was not right. I knew that already.

There was something evil in these mines. A dark figure cast over me as I walked and yanked me into the darkness of the mine. I couldn't see anything, but I could hear my own screaming.

And then everything ended and I was back in the jeep panting heavily and…crying. Great. I quickly wiped the tears from my face and tried to calm my breathing, but I was too afraid to close my eyes again. A warm hand clapped down on my shoulder and I cried out, nearly jumping out of my seat.

"Echo…are you okay?" Callum asked after a small pause. He was staring at me intently and I forced my head to nod up and down. It was just a nightmare. I must've dozed off and fallen asleep. I faced out the window and felt a shiver pass through me once I realized where we were.

Centralia Pennsylvania.

_

"You can wait in the car if you want" Callum said softly as he unloaded the jeep and shot me a worried look. An image flashed through my head of me alone in the jeep surrounded by hundreds of burned people. I quickly shook my head. Callum didn't seem satisfied. He dropped the large, black duffel bag on the ground and took the short three steps towards me.

"Show me" He said, putting his palms on either side of my face.

"What?" I asked

"Just think of what's scaring you." He said impatiently. I frowned, not knowing what he was going to do, but closed my eyes and replayed the images in my head.

After they were done I pulled away from Callum's touch and stared at him. He had an awed look on his face and a bright smile.

"Good" He said finally "We're in the right place"

My eyes widened. And he turned his smile on me.

"Nice gift you got there. Don't worry about the burned people. They're on our side" He said, grabbing my hand in one of his and the duffel bag in the other.

Understanding seeped through me and I shuddered, suddenly realizing what we were here for. Recruiting.


	7. Chapter 7

_**Thanks to all of my wonderful reviewers! If it's not to much to ask, I'd like four reviews before my next update!**_

_**_**_

Callum lead me threw the city of Centralia in record time, and we were only a few minutes from the mine. The road was like wet tar beneath my feet, and I was glad I wore boots in case it decided it liked the idea of sucking me under. The weather was extremely humid, and I felt like we had been walking in a wet mist for the past thirty minutes. No such luck.

No, instead we were walking through lots of falling ashes. Ashes covered everything. It was a very weird feeling walking around in a gray world. It made me feel like I was in a black and white movie. The ashes burned my nose when I tried to breath, and all in all- I felt like banging my head against a wall over and over. It was becoming obvious that when Callum said something wasn't going to be pleasant, he wasn't kidding. We walked off the road and into a fiercely overgrown field, near a rocky hill, stood the mouth of the mine. It was a large opening in the rock, like a cave- and it looked really dark.

"Okay" Callum said with a sigh "We'll summon the weaker ones right now, and then go down there and get the real badasses"

"And you're sure you can't do this by yourself?" I groaned, raising my head to the smoky sky and missing the flash of Callum's smile.

He laughed.

"Where's the fun in that?" He asked "Besides, someone's gotta have my back down there. But you can stay near the entrance- deal?"

I pursed my lips and sighed.

"Yeah, whatever" I grumbled. Callum smiled again and rolled his shoulders.

"Okay. Let's do this" He whispered. "First, sense the bodies, search for their spirits, and then-"

"Callum!" I interrupted

"Yeah?"

"I know how to do a freaking summoning. Shut up!" I snickered

He chuckled and closed his eyes "Fine"

I closed my eyes and searched for the dead with my mind- reaching out for them, and then I forced their spirits back into their corpses. Summoning was one of the many things I hated about being a necromancer. These poor souls, are just minding their own business, you know being dead, and then all of the sudden are forced back into their smelly, rotten corpses and basically become the slave of whoever summoned them. Um, I would be really freaking pissed if someone did that to me- and believe me, they were. It was kind of hard to ignore the black pools of hatred rolling off of an entire zombie army. And it was even harder to ignore the fact that the hatred was directed towards you. Callum didn't seem bothered by it at all. No, instead he made a joke.

"Ah. Happiness, is an army of unstoppable, loyal killing machines" He sighed. I raised my eyebrows.

"Happy? Is that what you think they are?" I asked. Callum pursed his lips.

"Not yet. But they can wait. Right now we have some other zombies to summon. Tell your half to stay put" Callum replied. I obeyed and in turn, the zombies I had summoned obeyed.

And then, Callum was leading me into the mine of molten rock and lots of smoke and carbon monoxide.

"Um what about the carbon monoxide?" I asked aloud, watching the way some veins pushed out of Callum's arms as his grip tightened on my hand.

"Don't worry about that stuff" He assured "It won't do anything to you as long as you're close to me. So I guess there's no staying in the entrance for you"

I pursed my lips in thought. What the hell was he? He couldn't just be a Death Walker.

I was shrouded in darkness as we entered the mine. It was so dark that I couldn't even see Callum, who was still holding my hand.

"Stay close" He commanded. Immediately, I hurried to get closer to him, and leaned against his arm. Even in complete darkness, my eyes flitted this way and that searching for something hidden inside the blackness.

As we walked deeper into the mine, it grew warmer and a faint glow was given of from the walls. Just like in the images I had seen. There was a fire behind the molten walls. As we drew deeper and deeper, the mine got hotter and started to grow unbearable. I started to whimper in between pants of breath.

Callum squeezed my hand.

"Just a little while longer… promise" He whispered. I nodded even though he wouldn't see it and continued to travel deeper. Soon, the ground beneath my feet grew sticky and burning hot. Callum paused in front of me and exhaled a relieved sigh.

"Okay. I'll go summon these guys and you stay here." He turned to face me, I couldn't see anything behind him, but the faint glow from the ground gave me a small view of Callum. He cupped my face in his hands and stared at me seriously.

"I mean it" He growled "Don't move"

I nodded and managed to add.

"Well hurry, or else you'll have another spirit to summon- _mine_"

Callum chuckled and followed it with a small shrug.

"You wouldn't be a bad addition to my army of the undead" He said honestly.

"Yeah, but how would you command my army? I summoned a nice amount of zombies"

Callum became thoughtful for a second before nodding with a small grin.

"Well, I guess I have to keep you alive then" He said before stalking off into the more molten area of the mine. I tried not to cringe when I watched the ground stretch and crack under his weight. He didn't seem to notice and kept walking.

Yeah, semi suicidal seemed like the right words to describe Callum Black.

_

I waited in silence for a few minutes, and then a few minutes more. Still no Callum.

Did he need help? Had the ground given out and engulfed him in flames? I didn't know whether or not the last idea made me terrified or relieved. He would have called if he needed help. And besides, I'm not supposed to go anywhere.

So what, now you're taking orders from this guy too? Don't you get enough of that from Victor? A small voice in the back of my head asked.

Shut up- was my only reply.

I waited for a few more minutes, and when I had decided that against all better judgment, I would go in after Callum to see what was taking him so long- a _cold_, clammy hand clapped down on my shoulder. I screamed and leapt away from the hand, knocking into a broad chest. I glanced up to see I had knocked into Callum. He wasn't looking at me, but at the thing across the hall that had grabbed me. I followed his gaze and found myself staring at a very, very, large man. He was paper white and sort of hunched over. He was bald and had raccoon eyes, black ink was smeared from his eyebrows to his lower eyelids. He had no eyeballs only empty sockets covered in black ink, and the man's lips were sewn shut. He stayed there, not doing anything but raising his hand in my direction. He was a forsaken human. A human whose soul was tortured by evil witches or demons and then placed back into the body.

"I thought I told you not to go anywhere" Callum hissed venomously.

"I didn't!" I retorted

"Then how in hell did you manage to find _him_?' Callum continued

"Find him?" I whispered frantically "Oh yeah, because I just thought 'well, I can do the whole leader thing way better than Callum so I'm just going to go off and find a fucking forsaken spirit, and then bring him back to the same exact spot I was standing before. That'll be _fun' _"

Callum scowled at me.

"Well I didn't summon him." He said indignantly "I've been spending the past forty minutes trying to track him down!"

"I didn't summon him either!" I replied

"Well it sure seems like it" He muttered, motioning to the forsaken's outstretched hand.

"Command him to do something" Callum said. I glared at him, but sighed and turned to the forsaken.

"Kneel" I commanded the forsaken. He didn't move.

I turned to Callum accusingly.

"Why don't you try?" I asked. Callum sneered at me.

"Kneel" He repeated. Again, nothing.

Callum groaned.

"Okay what now?" He asked.

"What do you mean? I don't know!"

Callum ran a hand through his hair, smearing soot along his forehead.

"Well this guy was summoned by _someone._ And they're probably still down here…" Callum trailed off. He stared at the ember colored wall of the mine deep in thought.

After a few minutes of silence, Callum snapped out of it and grabbed my hand, nearly yanking my arm from its socket as he tugged me along back towards the mouth of the mine.

_

"You want me to what?" I asked. Callum gave me an annoyed look and gestured to my zombies.

"Command them to find the necromancer and or death walker in the mine and bring him or her back to us" Callum repeated.

I gave him a wary glance.

"And what are we going to do with him or her when he or she is retrieved?" I asked. Callum shrugged.

"Recruit whoever they are" He replied "Or kill them, depends on my mood at the time"

My breathing hitched and I quickly commanded the zombies to find the necromancer.

Hopefully, the quicker we find him or her- the more lenient Callum will be. I've killed enough people this week.

We walked back to the jeep and Callum searched radio stations. I snickered and shook my head.

"You aren't going to find anything on there" I said " If you haven't noticed this is kind of a ghost town"

Callum smirked "Oh, I noticed"

I sighed and rested my feet on the dash before sipping from my water bottle.

"How long has it been?" I asked. Callum stopped fumbling with the radio and glared at me.

"Well let's see when you asked three minutes ago, it had been exactly _three minutes_. So why don't you do the math" He hissed before going back to messing with the radio. I laughed.

"Whatever" I replied, raising my head to stare at the sky. I watched the smoky clouds glide lazily across the sky and the small flakes of ashes fall like snow. Suddenly, too suddenly, large gray rain clouds rolled in and a flash of lightning ripped through the sky. There was a crack of thunder that was swiftly followed by heavily falling rain. Alarmed, I looked back down at Callum. His eyes were on the sky. His eyes narrowed as he stared at something, he shifted and stared at whatever it was more intently.

"What the fu-" Callum was cut off by another roll of thunder. I followed his gaze, finding the sky too dark to see much of anything. A flash of lightning illuminated it for a small second and I saw, to what Callum was referring. A giant, _giant_ black crow was flying towards us. It's long wings were easily guiding it in our direction and I could easily hear it's melancholy 'caw' over the thunder. As I squinted to get a better look, I noticed that it's beak was abnormally curved- like an owl's beak. And there were tiny white things crawling along its feathers. As the crow flew closer I realized the tiny white things were maggots. The crow had been summoned. And from the look of pure fury on Callum's face it was obvious that neither of us had done it.

"How long has it been?" I asked again, this time the panic could be heard in my voice.

Callum's face pinched up.

"Too long" He replied in a dangerous voice that made my skin crawl.

"So…" I offered. Callum took the bait with a sigh.

"So, whoever summoned that forsaken probably summoned that _thing_. And I'm willing to bet- made pretty easy work of our little zombie army." He finished. I nodded.

"So we should probably hurry" I said matter- of- factly.

"What?" Callum asked, eyes still on the crow that was growing closer.

"Um, I don't know about you- but I hate birds. And I hate maggots even more. So there's no way in hell I'm letting that thing get any closer to us. We have some more summoning to do" I sighed.

Callum smiled nastily.

"I think at this point" He said "I'm leaning more towards kill- with the whole necromancer thing. They have royally pissed me off"

He muttered as he started the jeep and threw it into drive.

"I think before we start talking about murdering people we should be figuring out how not to be murdered. Obviously, this person has an army of some kind. They couldn't have taken ours out with just one forsaken" I added.

Callum nodded thoughtfully.

"Right. So we have to kill and not be killed in the process" He said, pushing harder on the accelerator.

"That's not what I -" I broke off as the crow circled above us, it's flapping wings dropped several maggots in my hair. I screamed frantically and shook my head feeling my blood boil.

Once I was sure that all of the maggots were out of my hair, I cast a dark glance at the crow that was diving for the jeep and gaining speed.

"That sounds about right" I growled

Callum grinned at me and raised an eyebrow as he forced the jeep to go faster.

"Is that all I have to do to make you agree with everything I say? Just throw maggots on you?" He asked. I gave him a blank look.

"No, that's all you have to do to make me pour acid on your flesh" I replied. Callum laughed, and the jeep sped faster.

"Right, kill the bird first- pour acid on the necromancer later" He chuckled. I even managed to crack a smile.

"Right"


	8. Chapter 8

**So I know that I asked for four reviews before my next update, but I kind of finished this chapter way early and couldn't wait to get it up for you guys. So lets make it five reviews until the next update lol. Deal?**

"Alright" Callum said, glancing at the bird that was still diving for the jeep, "Watch this"

I stared at him curiously and watched in quiet amazement as Callum's skin began to glow. From the glowing, golden tendrils like the flames of a fire began licking out in every direction. His eyes left the bird for a fraction of a second, and he turned to me and winked. Then the golden tendrils shot straight out and towards the bird. I watched as they wrapped around the struggling crow and immobilized it. Then the tendrils, began glowing fiercely- the bird screeched just before it burst into huge, golden flames. And just like that, the tendrils shrank back into Callum, and his glowing stopped. The only evidence of the bird was lost against the already falling ashes.

I turned to Callum with wide eyes. He just smirked.

"Pretty cool, huh?"

I nodded before adding "Pretty freaking scary"

Callum laughed, his typical boyish laugh.

"So what _are_ you?" I asked. Callum glanced at me from the corner of his eye, a small smile tugging at the corner of his lips.

"Well, my father calls me something along the lines of an abomination" Callum replied, there was a happy fire in his eyes.

"But technically, I would be…" His head moved slowly from side to side and he squinted his eyes, as if trying to guess someone's weight at a carnival.

"Part sorcerer, part angel- all Death Walker" He flashed me a devilish smile.

"Part…_angel_?" I repeated unsurely. Callum's face became serious as he nodded.

"Yeah, explains my good looks doesn't it? I was never much a fan of the whole golden boy theme, but people listen to a handsome face more than they do an ugly one. So it works out"

I shook my head.

"All you men- power hungry bastards" I said, still shaking my head. Callum chuckled and glanced at me.

"What does that make you? Power loving whores?"

"Whores?" I echoed "Hardly. The power loving part, perhaps. There's usually a woman behind an evil man, urging him on" I shrugged. "As for me, power is a necessary accessory to have. Especially with the way I look. No one would dare make fun of an albino who could sick an entire legion of zombies on their asses"

Callum became thoughtful, and shrugged. "I probably would. There's nothing I like more than a nice old fashioned war"

He flashed me a charming smile.

I smiled and shook my head sadly.

"The only guy I know, that cares more about violence and war than women" I muttered. Callum's eyebrows raised to his hairline.

"And what the hell gave you that idea? Just because I don't talk about my frivolous escapades doesn't mean I don't have them." He shrugged "It's just not polite to talk about them in front of a girl"

"The only guy I know who uses 'frivolous' and 'escapades'. And in the same sentence nonetheless" I amended

Callum laughed and patted my head condescendingly.

"Stick with me, kid" He chuckled. I narrowed my eyes. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a movement near the front of the car. My eyes widened and I turned to Callum.

"Callum, look out- _stop!_"

I didn't get to finish my sentence, before we collided into a tree. A fucking tree. In the middle of the road.

And, as soon as we collided, I cursed myself before flying out of the windshield.

The one time I didn't wear a seatbelt…

I winced as I slid across the pavement, and could feel the scraping of my skin. I landed hard on my arm and hip- probably even dislocated my shoulder. Damnit.

I laid still on the pavement for a few seconds, taking careful inventory on the damage. Nothing was broken, my spine was okay, but the shoulder was definitely dislocated. Freaking tree.

I began to stand as Callum ran towards me, there was a wild fear in his eyes which quickly dissipated when he saw me moving.

"Oh thank, god" He sighed, running a shaking hand through his hair. "I thought you were dead, that tree came out of nowhere- _the tree_" Callum's eyes narrowed to thin slits as he searched for the tree we had crashed into, I looked too. There was nothing in the road but us and the mutilated jeep. Callum cursed under his breath and turned back to me, appearing inches away without seeming to move.

"Shit" He whispered, bring his hand to my chin and gently turning my face to look at my scratched up cheek. "You've got glass in it"

I shook my head in his hand "I don't care about my damn cheek. Do something about my shoulder." I whimpered

His eyes traveled down to my shoulder which was slumped at an odd angle, I tried to not get sick thinking about it. Callum let in a hiss of breath through clenched teeth- telling me it was as bad as I thought. He ran his hand through his hair again as he dropped his other hand from my face.

"I'm gonna have to put it back" He said in a pained voice "It's gonna hurt. A lot"

I nodded, feeling myself growing pale. Callum nodded too and took of his shirt. My eyes widened in alarm, but I didn't stop them from traveling over Callum's toned, muscular body. He smirked at me, his eyes back to their playfully dancing selves.

"Don't get too excited, now. You haven't even taken me to dinner yet" He teased coyly as he ripped a large shred from the shirt and wrapped it in a small ball, discarding the rest of the shirt on the ground. I snickered and he handed me the small ball of fabric.

"Put that in you mouth, so you don't bite your tongue of or something. It's a little sweaty and bloody- but you'll just have to suck it up" He said and added a charming smile.

I did as he said, feeling that pale sickness coming back. I was pretty sure that this small ball would kill me if I throw up with it in my mouth. I would most definitely choke on my own vomit and die. Not a very pleasant way to die- yet I couldn't help the laughter that bubbled up in my throat when I pictured it. Callum took that chance to grab my shoulder and force it up and back into the socket with a weird 'pop' noise. I groaned into the makeshift gag and ground my teeth into the fabric before tossing it out of my mouth with a hiss. Callum shrugged sheepishly.

"I told you it would hurt" He said defensively. I rolled my eyes, and tried to move my injured arm. It had enough movement. Especially, being as sore as it was. I turned back to Callum.

"Okay, what now?" I asked, looking around before adding "And how the hell did a tree end up in the middle of the road, crash into _us_, and then disappear into thin air?"

Callum scratched his forearm absent-mindedly while his eyes scanned the perimeter.

"That's what bothers me. Necromancers can't animate trees. I haven't heard of anyone who could do that- except maybe an all powerful witch that's part superman and part god. And I highly doubt that one of those has just decided to mess with two necromancer teens. I smell dark magic. Probably a hired arm- from the council."

I glanced around worriedly. Why would the council try to kill me and Callum if they had already recruited me to tell them information. Had I been set up?

Of course not, Callum is probably just being paranoid- the rational part of me argued.

"Either way. We should probably leave. We could get a lot more zombies at the great wall of China anyway" I muttered nervously. Callum nodded.

"As much as I hate to admit defeat, I already thought about it. But I'm guessing whoever's messing with us isn't going to let us leave alive- so we're back to plan A. Kill and don't be killed" Callum sighed. He looked around, searching for something, and paused. "I bet they're still in the mine. That's why our zombies never came back."

He grabbed my hand in his and began leading the way back to the mine, me cursing nervously under my breath the whole way. This was going to be a long day.

_

About half way through our walk, Callum froze and cursed loudly.

"I forgot the bag" He murmured under his breath, brow furrowing.

"Well do we need it?" I asked. Callum glanced at me as if he just noticed I was there and nodded, releasing my hand and taking a step back in the direction of the jeep.

"Stay there" He commanded, taking a few more steps backwards "I'll be right back"

And with that, Callum turned and jogged off. I stared at his back until it disappeared over the hill before letting out an aggravated sigh.

He was just going to leave me here? Unprotected?

Whoa…serious new moon quote. That sounded really lame, but still- it was true.

I sat on the pavement, too lazy to stand and used my mind to search for any spirits near by…Nothing.

I could have sworn I sensed some the first time we walked by this place. Callum jogged back up to me, duffel back in hand and just as shirtless as he was before. This time, I noticed lots of thin, silvery scars along his entire body. Not very visible in the light- but they were there. I frowned at a particularly large one across his chest, just above his heart.

Callum raised an eyebrow.

"You look nervous," He commented in an extremely nasally voice "Is it the scars? Would you like to know how I got em' ?" He finished his little performance by licking the corners of his lips. I laughed.

"Nice" I said nodding appreciatively. Callum bowed extravagantly.

"We'll get to the scars some other time," He zipped open the duffel back and glanced back at me "Right now, it's all business"

I raised my head to look at the items inside the bag. Maces, flails, daggers, hand axes, and double edged swords of all sizes.

"Um, what are these for?" I asked. Callum gave me a reproachful look.

"Um, hellooo, we don't know what we're going up against in there. We can't just prance in all willy- nilly and completely unarmed. So suit up. Take your pick" He made a grandeur gesture to the bag and stepped aside to let me look more closely. I picked up a sturdy looking flail, _lots_ of daggers, and a hand axe. I stood straight, nestling the axe and flail against my belt with a few daggers, and then placing the other daggers strategically around my body. Callum gave me an admiring look as he stared at the bag.

"Well, since you've completely depleted my supply of daggers…" He trailed off, and grabbed a short sword, three hand axes, and a flail of his own.

Once he was done with his selection, Callum tossed the bag on the side of the road, and looked at me expectantly.

"Alright, keep a weapon in your hand at all times. And stay close" He said before picking up a quick paced walk towards the entrance of the mine, not even looking back. Just expecting me to follow. I took a hand axe from my belt and grasped it tightly, taking a quick breath to steady myself and then jogged to catch up with Callum.

_

The mine was hotter than before, even a few feet in, I found myself wiping sweat off my forehead with the back of my hand. After walking a few minutes in unbearable heat, I took off my shirt and smoothed out my black tank top. As soon as I had thrown my shirt on the ground, a cold draft blew threw the mine- freezing everything instantly. The rocks, the ground, the ceiling and even the entrance were covered in a thick sheet of ice.

"What the hell?" I whispered. Callum looked alarmed, which made me alarmed..

"Shit" he muttered walking back towards the entrance, it was completely frozen over- there was no way out. I shivered, Callum noticed as he walked back towards me.

"Your shirt?" He asked staring ahead at the deeper part of the mine.

"Frozen" I replied bitterly. He nodded determinedly.

"I'm gonna peel the flesh from this guy, when I get my hands on him" He said softly, carefully wringing his hands around his short sword.

"Kill and don't be killed, right?" I said nervously. Callum nodded.

"Good. Because I don't know if you've noticed, but there is a horde of loyal, killing machines heading towards us. And I don't think we're the ones they're loyal to" I added even more nervously, grasping the axe tighter.

Callum managed a murderous smile, and his eyes glowed gold.

"Oh, I noticed"


	9. Chapter 9

_I watched in shocked stillness as Callum easily disposed of the seventeen or so zombies. The way Callum used his blade couldn't even be described as violence. It was art. He wielded the short sword with such confidence, and stealth- it was hard to describe him as anything even close to relating towards violence. The way the sword arced, slicing through the air, before making contact with rotting flesh, and then slicing through it as if it were_ air. It was only when Callum turned back to me, blue eyes sparkling with the satisfaction of the kill, that it was easier to see the murderer beneath. It may have been easier, but not by much. It was easier to return his satisfied grin and raise an appreciative brow than it was to admit that he enjoyed killing- got some sick thrill off of it, even.

And it was easier to acknowledge that he was only doing what he believed, and to forget the uneasy part that reminded me that Victor only killed when necessary, and usually made it quick. With Callum, there was no mistaking the bright, satisfied glint in his eye as he dealt the death blow to an enemy. I forced myself not to shiver and instead put on a façade of calm and appraising.

"I suppose it would be too much to ask for you to leave some for me next time?" I asked, my voice surprisingly even. Callum's eyes darkened, and he turned away.

"Don't be ridiculous. And let you get blood in your hair? Do you have any idea how badly that will stain? I would no longer be considered a gentlemen if I were to allow that" He said raising his chin defiantly. I snickered.

"Oh is that the reason?" I asked, my eyes accusing. Callum narrowed his eyes at me.

"Don't look at me like that. Judging me. _You_, may not be accustomed to acts of meaningless violence but I, my dear, grew up with it. And have grown to enjoy it immensely, if I don't say so myself." He cast me a dark glance and shrugged "Gets rid of the nerves"

I snorted.

"Yeah, nothing like bludgeoning a kid to death, to get rid of those Algebra test jitters" I said sarcastically. Callum smirked and he gave me an expression of shock.

"You cannot tell me that you haven't imagined stomping a brat's face in after listening to them whine for about an hour in the ICU waiting room?" He suggested cruelly. I shook my head sadly.

"Now we all know how they ended up there in the first place- a nasty visit from Callum Black himself" I said wistfully.

"Damn straight. When it comes to Algebra tests, bludgeoning has nothing on a good ole' face bashing. World History, on the other-hand, that's a different story" He replied, voice dripping with sarcasm. I rolled my eyes and smiled affectionately at the semi-suicidal Death Walker.

"I'll keep that in mind, next time I stop by a high school" I laughed. Callum nodded appreciatively.

"You do that, but in the mean time- we have a necromancer to pour acid on. Have you got the hydrofluoric ready?"

I rolled my eyes skyward.

"Yeah," I replied caustically "It right here in my bra, let me fetch it out"

Callum raised his eyebrows expectantly, a small smile tugging at the corners of his lips.

"Need help?"

I sneered at him before smacking him on the shoulder. He gasped and feigned injury, tugging his shoulder closer to him.

"My shoulder will never be the same" He muttered "It will never forget the stinging pain with which you just inflicted upon it" He said, solemnly shaking his head. After a few seconds, he cracked a grin and chuckled lightly.

"I'll show you infliction, asshole" I murmured, following him as he began leading the way through still twitching corpses, and deeper into the glassy mine.

"tsk, tsk" Callum hissed from up ahead "Stop talking- unless you're itching for an early death. Those things have excellent senses, including sense of direction."

"What things?" I asked, knowing he couldn't be talking about the zombies and feeling a small shiver make its way down my spine. Callum sighed and turned to me with upturned eyebrows.

"I already know where you stand on maggots, but where do you stand on maggot covered moles?" He asked casually.

"Moles?" I repeated. Callum nodded, pretending to pick something from his fingernail.

"I noticed some when we were down here before, died recently from the looks of them- you know still covered in your precious maggots, I wouldn't doubt that they've been summoned and sent as back up for the little zombie horde" He said glancing at me from his hand. I nodded slowly.

"Then we should probably get moving" I replied, voice cracking. Callum smiled at me and I saw something in his eyes- respect?

"You're a brave little biscuit" He sighed, grinning widely. I narrowed my eyes.

"You're pushing it, Black" I said venomously. He just smiled and turned back towards the darkness of the mine.

"Try to keep up, will ya?" He added before starting down the path at a slow jog. I stared at the slick looking sheet of ice over the ground unsurely.

"_Echo_" Callum called from somewhere up ahead. It was too dark to even see the glow of his hair. "Come, _on_"

I gave the ice another nervous glance before sighing defeatedly and jogging to catch up with Callum.

_

**Victor's POV- 3rd**** person**

Victor paced impatiently in the foyer in near the front door. Where was that girl? She was an entire hour late.

Victor couldn't help but let his thoughts wander to darker images. Maybe she had failed, maybe they had killed her. Maybe that's why she hadn't called. Maybe that-

His thoughts were cut off by the sound of the door knob turning. Victor's eyes snapped up immediately as Echo entered the house- with Cilla close behind her. Victor frowned. She looked…different. Changed. And that just wasn't because of the soot, grime, and blood that covered her.

_Does she have any basic knowledge of hygiene at all? _Victor thought idly, too enraptured with the glowing spark in Echo's lavender eyes to actually mean it. He was right, she had definitely changed, and only in a days time…perhaps that Callum boy was smarter than the council gave him credit for…

Victor slowly soaked in Echo's essence as she stood in front of him smiling expectantly.

"Sorry I'm late, I had a difficult time getting away" She said smiling at a joke that only she knew the pun to.

Small, purplish bruises covered her pale, exposed, arms, her left shoulder was scraped up rather gruesomely as was her left cheek. Victor noticed the small pieces of gravel that had dug into her flesh and hissed reproachfully. Echo's white hair was stained with blood, that didn't look like her own and there were large, gaping gashes across her shredded tank top and the pale flesh underneath as well as her jeans and legs- all of that blood did look like her own.

"Jesus, what did they do to you? Was it some sort of initiation?" Victor muttered, turning away as the smell of her blood entered his system. Echo looked down as if just noticing her battered state.

"Oh, this?" She asked nonchalantly "God no, this would be the result of fighting a horde of fifty or so zombies, eight undead moles, and one seriously large jackass of a someone." She paused to raise an accusing, white eyebrow at Victor.

"You wouldn't have had anything to do with mentioned and regrettably, still alive, jackass someone, would you?"

Victor's eyes darted from Echo to Cilla.

"No." He replied coldly, affronted "And how on Earth did you manage to find all of that trouble in one day?"

Echo's returning look was grim. "You should know better than anyone how easily trouble finds me. Since, you are the closest definition to the word"

Victor straightened. After staring at the fridge longingly, which was currently filled with enough fresh blood to quench his now burning thirst, Victor glanced at Echo.

"Go take a shower" He commanded, "You reek of blood, sweat, and tears which would usually be one of my very favorite smells- but when its on you…not so much" He grimaced, turning towards the fridge. "You can fill me in on the details afterwards"

Echo opened her mouth to say something and Victor quickly cut her off.

"I'll feed the damn dog, now go" He added, feeling pleased when Echo's mouth closed and she frowned.

"Fine" She muttered, turning towards the master bedroom and closing the door with a slam.

_

Victor stared resentfully at the dog, who was greedily eating _his_ steak. He took a sip from his third bottle of blood and, grimacing at the coldness, tossed it back into the fridge. He plopped down on his sofa, kicking his legs up, and started flipping through channels on the television.

_

Echo glanced at the shower wall, washing the shampoo out of her hair. Today had probably been the worst day of her life, ever. She still had the worst part of it imprinted in her brain like a bloody tattoo.

"_Echo," Callum called from somewhere up ahead, it was too dark to even see the glow of his hair "Come, __**on**__"_

_After another nervous glance towards the deceptive looking ice, Echo hurried forward to catch up with Callum. He had traveled farther than she thought, and she met him at the bottom of the sloping tunnels of the mine. Callum glanced at her from the corner of his eye._

"_They're up ahead" He whispered, cocking his head to the side as if he were listening to something. Echo wouldn't put it past him to have crazy super hearing or something along those lines…_

"_By them, do you mean the moles, the zombies, or all of the above including whoever decided it would be a fun idea to give us a taste of our own medicine?" Echo replied sarcastically, she ducked her head sheepishly at Callum's glare._

"_Very funny" He hissed, "And for your information I was referring to our undead buddies- the moles. There's about eight of them"_

_Echo pursed her lips in a tiny pout. She sensed that she would be ambushed by maggots more than once tonight, and that thought made her both murderously angry and scared enough to piss herself. She didn't though. At that moment a large mole, with intimidating claws wobbled around the corner. When it spotted Echo and Callum, it's lips curled back exposing yellow teeth made for biting and let out a small snarl. Before it could charge however, Callum was upon it. And the mole was quickly made into a bone, blood, and mush soup on the ice floor. Callum twirled the flail thoughtfully in his hands, a small grin tugging at the corners of his lips._

"_One down, seven to go" He said cheerfully before turning the corner and heading in the direction where he had heard the other moles. Echo stared after him with wide eyes._

_Standing beside Callum was either the safest place on Earth or the most dangerous. She hoped, as she hurried after him, that it would be the safest at the moment._

_Apparently, Callum had been more angry than he had let on, and he took most of his hostility out on the moles. Although, a few did manage to escape his attention while he had paused to do something especially nasty to a certain mole who had taken a great deal of skin off of Callum's arm. _

_Echo stood by in the corner, axe in hand, staring at Callum's bloody back with a look of confusion. _

_What did he expect to accomplish with the mole's eyes? Was he going to make them into a key chain and use it as a souvenir of today's 'adventure'?_

_While Echo was busy counting the tiny silver scars on Callum's back, and Callum was busy mutilating the mole, another mole was sneaking up behind Echo. She turned, at the sound of claws clicking against ice, just as the mole stood up on its hind legs and lashed out, tearing through Echo's tank top and jeans and leaving deep, painful, gashes in her skin. She cried out, more in anger than in surprise and without thinking, drew her arm up and then down. The axe made direct contact with mole's neck, and quickly snapped its spine, before Echo continued to hack into the mole's motionless body. She wiped blood, and sweat from her forehead once she was sure that the mole was decapitated, and turned back to Callum. He was leaning coolly against the ice wall with his arms crossed over his bare chest. He was staring at Echo with intense, unwavering eyes and his lips were pursed into a tight line; He had obviously disposed of the other moles, from the looks of it. His mouth quirked up in a sort of odd frown and he stared at the ground._

"_I don't usually rub off on people this quickly" He muttered into the ground._

"_Oh don't worry" She replied dryly "I had a short temper before I joined your little terrorist group"_

_Callum chuckled, still looking at the ground._

"_You know, for someone __**in**__ the terrorist group, you don't seem very into the cause" He remarked. Echo shrugged lightly, hiding her apprehension at the turn of the subject._

"_Neither do you" She countered "If you think for one second that whole 'we are owed this land' thing worked on me in the least you are sadly mistaken. So Callum Black, what's the real reason you're doing all of this?" _

_Callum raised his head fractionally and glanced at Echo over his eyebrows._

"_I'll tell you about that, after the scars" He said, raising up from the wall. "But now, is neither the time nor the place for either of those stories. "_

_Callum started to walk down the tunnel again and paused, turning towards Echo._

"_After we get out of here, I'll answer any questions." Callum looked like he wanted to say something else, but opened his mouth, hesitated, and then closed it again before turning back towards the tunnel and stalking out of sight. Echo bit her lip, letting her head move back in forth in an aggravated motion. Why was she always trailing after him?_

"_Echo," Callum's voice boomed from up ahead, sounding impatient. "Are you coming?"_

_Echo blew a stray strand of hair from her face and trudged after Callum. This was getting old._

**Echo's POV**

The memory ended, and I was back in Victor's room staring at my nude body in the full length mirror. I examined my still stinging wounds on my shoulder and cheek. There were deep black bruises forming along my hip, left ribs, and left cheek bone. The mole gashes across my stomach and legs were definitely going to leave a scar, but stitches didn't appear necessary. I let a small sigh escape my lips before turning to Victor's closet and taking out some brand new pajamas that I had bought yesterday. Once I was dressed, I retreated into the living room where Victor was waiting, feet up, and glaring menacingly at the television screen. It was an old rerun of The View.

"These women never know when to shut up" Victor growled, shaking his head disappointedly. He gave me a once over and raised an eyebrow, a small smirk tugging at the corners of his lips.

"Mind telling me what happened?"

I sighed, and collapsed on to the chair opposite Victor, quickly launching into a recap of today's events.

"And by the time we got to the end of the mine, there was like thirty something zombies waiting for us. Callum killed most of them- as much as you can kill something that's already dead- and then looked like he was about to set the entire town on fire, even though it already was" I finished.

"Why?" Victor asked, his eyebrow perking up in clinical curiosity. I threw my hands up in the air to show my frustration.

"Because there was no one else there!" I cried "No person smirking cruelly at us and saying 'well, well, it appears you're better at surviving than I gave you credit for' - nothing. I'm sure you can imagine Callum's disappointment when he saw this- he had explained to me with very gruesome detail exactly what he had planned for this person- whoever they were- once we found them. And there was no one there." I paused to take a breath. "And then everything just unfroze and we just walked right out! It was like some big game or something"

Victor scowled at me. "How do you know it wasn't your initiation?"

I pursed my lips in deep thought and shook my head after a second.

"No way." I replied "Callum, you should have seen him. He was way too…_hostile_ for it to have been an initiation."

"If you say so" Victor muttered, he stared at me and hesitated for only a second before saying "You like him don't you- Callum"

It wasn't a question. I wrinkled my nose. Did I?

There was certainly an attraction of some kind. And he was charming, and charismatic, with an aura stronger than any other that I've ever felt. But he was also, cruel and demented, and _scary_.

"I suppose" I shrugged "I don't know why it matters though"

Victor raised his black eyes to me "It doesn't. Just don't come crying to me when he's dead"

"I think you'll find," I paused, selecting my words carefully "That killing Callum Black is easier said than done"

Victor shrugged. "Either way, he'll still be dead" He sighed.

I gnawed the inside of my cheek.

"Now get out" Victor commanded "Get back to work"

I rolled my eyes, smirking slightly.

"Yeah, yeah" I muttered. I turned towards the door, grabbing my jacket and calling for Cilla when a cold hand clamped down on my wrist. It spun me around, and I was staring into a black, night sky, with tiny specks of brightly glowing stars. Victor's eyes.

He kissed me. His lips as gentle as I remembered, his fingers tracing the planes of the uninjured side of my face. I inhaled the smell of him and deepened the kiss. After a few minutes, Victor pulled away with a wicked smile and plopped lazily back down on the sofa.

"Bye' He said, folding his palms behind his head as he rested it on the arm of the sofa.

I grinned as I put on my coat.

"Yeah, yeah" I repeated. Opening the door and leaving, with Cilla hot on my tail.

_And back down the rabbit hole, I go._

**Well, thanks to contributions from my annoyingly persistent little sister- I reached the review I wanted I no time at all. And even got more, so thanks! I'd like four reviews, for the next update- please and thank you!**

_**Jaceshadowhunter: **_**Ha, you don't know how happy I am for you to say that! I was worried about how Callum would be received when I first introduced him but apparently I was worrying for no reason.**

**P.S. I'm totally in love with him too. Don't worry, your secret is safe with me ;)**

**Casperthefriendlyvampire: THANKS! I was actually thinking about trying to get it published after I'm done writing it. So if it works, fingers- crossed, you guys will have read it for free already. Not a bad deal, eh?**


	10. Chapter 10

_**Wow. You guys are amazing with the reviews. I'm gonna have to bump up my request just so that I can have some time off of writing ;)Onwards, Casper The Friendly Vampire: You read my freaking mind. Here's your little snippet of Callum's POV**_

_**vampiresuck…blood: Thank you! I love praise hehe**_

_**Kennady: Dude, seriously. If you must review, review one a chapter you lame-o. I don't understand why you review at all. You could just walk out of your bedroom when you're done reading the chapter and tell me what you think! Dork. Anyways, thanks- I guess. Not that I'm much a fan of pity reviews, especially from my sister.**_

_**Okay, enough of that. Here's your new chap!**_

_**_**_

_Callum's POV - Third person_

Steam raised in thick, lazy, wafts. Callum winced slightly at the heat of the pellets of water hitting his injured arm. Damn mole. He turned the shower off and stepped out, snatching a towel from the counter and feeling more tired than he would ever willingly admit. The small bathroom was filled with steam, tiny dots of moisture floating through the air like flakes of snow. Callum scowled at them, his glare turning icy. Instantly, the steam evaporated and the room was clear, and without the uncomfortable feeling of suffocation. Callum turned to himself in the mirror, the boy staring back at him had no emotion on his face. No affection, no hatred, only a faint hint of complete disdain and scorn. Faster than the human eye could follow, Callum's hand shot out, and the mirrored glass cracked and crumpled beneath his fist. He pulled his hand back and examined it with blank, clinical curiosity. His head swiveled back to the glass and he smirked at the distorted image of his face, grinning menacingly back at him through the mirror. Unable to keep his anger bottled up anymore, Callum lashed out at nothing, and everything. He destroyed everything his eyes laid rest on, and then, once he was satisfied with the ruined bathroom; Callum smirked, threw the towel over his shoulder in a nonchalant gesture and walked from the bathroom and into his closet. He doubted he would be taking a trip to Centralia, Pennsylvania anytime soon unless it was to peel the flesh off the bastard that dared to seal him, _Callum Black_, in a mine. He smiled at the thought of presenting his father with a coat made of flesh. If his father wanted a monster, he would show him one.

Callum picked up a dagger, and twirled it idly in his hand. Just as he was about to throw it at something, anything, a sound interrupted. Breaking his focus. Callum glowered at the door.

"What?" He demanded harshly, replying to the knock. The voice that answered him, stopped him short and he froze.

"Um, Callum? Are you alright? Kiera said you wanted to see me…" said Echo from the other side of the door. His glower didn't falter, but the tension immediately left his back and shoulders.

"I can come back later if you want…" Echo continued unsurely, guessing Callum's mood with perfect accuracy. With a sigh, Callum through on some black sweats laying on his floor and collapsed into a chair.

"No, you can come in" He said, not even bothering to put up a false charm. She already knew he was mad. Slowly, the door cracked open and Echo's face peaked in, she had an unusual look on her face, almost frightened but not quite. At least, the fear wasn't directed towards Callum, himself. She took two quick steps into the room, closing the door behind her as she glanced around with an expression of…horror. Callum smirked at her deep frown. The look would have been cute, had her delicate face not been covered in bruises and large, angry looking scrapes.

"Callum," Echo started, her frown deepening as she walked closer to him "What _happened_" She said, sighing breathlessly.

Callum looked around the destroyed room apathetically. He had ripped the sink from the wall completely and water was shooting out, spraying the wall. The toilet was also ripped off, but somehow it had landed in his closet. There was a large chunk of wall missing where the bathroom door should have been, but now sat in splinters across Callum's bed. And that was only half of it. Callum rested his eyes on Echo's frowning face and he sighed tiredly.

"I fell" He replied with rolled eyes. She looked at him incredulously, obviously not believing him.

"That is not" She began but broke off, glancing at the room again. Her hand came to her mouth to stifle a giggle and Callum felt his heart stutter and then start up again twice as fast. If he could have ripped his heart out to glare at it accusingly- he would have. He was weighing the thought of doing it anyway…

"Funny" Echo finished, a small smile tugging up her lips. She turned back to him with raised eyebrows.

"Seriously, I can come back" She repeated. Callum, stared at her. She had an unbuttoned black pea coat on over a lavender camisole and some fleece pajama pants- also lavender. Now that Callum thought about it, she even smelled like lavender.

"No. I was just leaving anyway" Callum said, quickly getting to his feet. He took her hand, and pulled her from his room.

"Come on" He said "I have something to show you"

Callum led Echo through the twisting hallway that led away from his room, and began climbing stairs. Echo followed still frowning at his hand, tightly encasing hers. Callum rolled his eyes. Girls, and their sensitive feelings, he would never understand it. He loosened his grip on her hand impulsively, and continued dragging her along behind him.

A feeling of growing anticipation grew inside him. Was he really about to do this?

He was about to stop, and turn around before realizing that it was already too late for that, he had already walked them inside the room without noticing.

He turned back almost gasping at Echo's awed expression as she looked around. Almost.

Instead a small, knowing grin grew over Callum's face. She wouldn't be smiling for long. And somehow, he didn't feel guilty about what he was about to tell her. Misery loves company. And until he got what he wanted, he would make everyone miserable. Whether he really wanted to or not. Echo wasn't one of those people he would ever intentionally hurt. Actually, she was one of the few people he _wouldn't_. But he had a feeling that his little confession, was going to hurt her. Not because it was mean, or sadistic like he would have liked it to have been. But because it was the truth. For the first time, Callum was going to tell someone the truth. And the truth hurt Callum, not that he would _ever_, ever admit that to anyone. Not even on his dying breath. Echo, was one of those people who took other's pain and bore it like it was her own. That's how Callum knew it would hurt her. But he didn't care. Echo was the one person he was willing to confess to at the moment. She was new, and so also by that right naïve, and a sort of outcast among the other people in the group. Therefore, she would have no reason to betray anything that he was about to tell her.

_And,_ said a darker voice at the back of Callum's head _If she ever did, I would kill her._

_

_Echo's POV_

I slowly turned, trying to capture everything in the room. It was made of a deep maple wood and shaped like a dome. Like a giant, warm, igloo. The ceiling was glass, and showed the starry night sky like I had never seen it before. Like every single star was magnified, and somehow shining a warm glow of light into the room. There was a fireplace between to large bookcases filled with old, leather bound books. Of what, I didn't recognize. Then there were the large portraits that hang along the circular walls, divided by bookcases. Each portrait had a light shined on it, and made the photos seem as if they were glowing. There was a large, red, leather sofa across from the fireplace and three work tables scattered throughout the room. Other than that, it was empty. I stepped up to a particular portrait that caught my eye. In it there was a familiar, strong- yet gentle looking man, with dark brown hair cropped short and a beard and mustache. His deep black eyes, seemed wise with a hint of something else. Cruelty?

His arm was wrapped around a beautiful, delicate looking woman with pale skin and golden hair. Her smile was radiant, and also very familiar. Just like her deeper than deep blue eyes. I stood rigid, my eyes widening. I stepped back and continued to stare incredulously at the man in the portrait. I knew him.

"Those are my parents" Callum said, staring at the photo with barely concealed contempt. I turned to him with wide eyes. Callum's hands were in tight fists behind his back, as he glared at the two figures in the portrait.

"My father" Callum said, inclining his head towards the man. His voice was hard, and icy. He turned his head towards the woman.

"And…my mother" He said in a softer voice. I glanced from the man in the portrait and back to Callum.

"But…" I started, frowning at the portrait. "But he's the leader of the council. And his last name is Penstern. Not Black."

I stared at Callum, still struggling to see the resemblance. He turned and walked to the next portrait, his hands still folded behind his back. He looked back at me impatiently and I hurried to catch up. The next portrait was of a handsome, muscular man. He was smiling charmingly- a smile that I recognized immediately to be Callum's. He had Callum's golden wheat colored skin and straight, delicate looking nose along with most of angular features present on Callum's face, right down to the stubborn set of his jaw. He had the same build as Callum, but that was it. The man's hair was a pale blonde, far lighter than Callum's, and hung at his jaw in thin, wispy, strands. His eyes were the same black color as Callum's father's and it was far easier to see the cruelty in _this_ man's eyes than it was in the other's. I wondered if his mother had lied and told the man- Penstern- that the child was his, when Callum was actually the son of this man. But then I remembered that he could probably be related to this man and simply took after him. So I kept my mouth shut. Callum was already showing the signs of being scary-calm angry

"This," Callum said, in a voice that sounded surprisingly affectionate, "Is my uncle. He raised me"

I stared at Callum, my brow furrowing. He glanced at me from the corner of his eyes and smirked.

"Well up until I was fourteen, that is" He added " Then, I killed him"

My eyes widened. But I tried not to look too freaked out.

I studied Callum's expression intently. He still had that charismatic, arrogant bravado- but something was wrong. There was a restlessness in his eyes that was very unsettling.

He must have sensed me watching him, because his face immediately smoothed over into the familiar mask of confidence.

"You see," He said, eyes growing clouded "My uncle, wasn't the…_kindest_ of people. He hated kids. But my father just handed me over to him. He had said 'I could never love a monster that would kill its own mother'" Callum shook his head and chuckled.

I blanched at this. Killed his own mother? As a baby? Callum gave me a knowing look.

"Yeah, I know. It's stupid, right? How could a baby kill its mother? Well, it can't." Callum said in a hard voice, before muttering under his breath in a sarcastic tone. "As if it was _my_ fault she was too weak to survive giving birth. Because women don't die during childbirth everyday.

"My father- he didn't see it that way. He loved my mother as much as someone like him is capable of. He blamed me for her death, said that I slowly drained her life away and _I_ should have been the one that died. But I didn't. So he did the next best thing he could think of next to me dying- sent me off to be raised by his brother. My uncle, Liam, was a complicated man. He didn't really have emotions. He was one of those people that lived off of instant gratification. For the first few years I was just ignored. You know, left for the staff to deal with. When I was four, old enough to comprehend things, that was when he started paying attention to me. I was forced into learning twenty seven different languages, five different instruments, developing my powers, and schooled in combat. For what he was training me for, I have no clue. I think he just mostly liked to punish me- when I couldn't pronounce a word right, I'd get three lashes. Talking back- ten lashes. Speaking out of turn- six lashes. Then there came a time when he just believed I was too old for lashes and started beating me for every little thing. It wasn't all abuse though. As demented as my uncle was, he was also very smart. He made me strong, impenetrable, unable to be hurt. I learned to fend for myself and eventually, got a little cheeky about it."

Callum made a sound like a 'Tsk' and continued.

"He did _not_ like that. I had just turned thirteen and I was mouthing off to him about something- I can't remember what and he just exploded. Faster than I could have imagined, he grabbed me by the hair and slammed my head into the wall over and over and over. I could feel my skull cracking with each slam. He killed me. Well, kind of. That's when I became a Death Walker. I knew I was dead, and I knew I wasn't in heaven, it was like I was in this limbo. Just existing, but not really. I was angry, I didn't want to be there. I didn't even believe in a heaven or a hell- and all that me being there was proving, was that there wasn't one. That when someone died, they were just stuck in this white room, completely alone. Waiting for something, or nothing at all. I didn't realize I had said that out loud until a woman appeared in front of me. She looked really pissed, and I apologized, but she didn't seem impressed. It didn't really look like anything could impress her- she was one of the most beautiful creatures I had ever seen. She made the fey look like hags. I watched something in her face soften, and she said. 'You have been dealt a great wrong. I will give you the power to heal, and become better from it.' It was then that I _actually_ looked at her. I first thought, she was wearing all white, but they were wings, wrapped around her. She was an _angel._ A real angel. Well, that certainly changed my view on a few things. She handed me a goblet with a thick, golden liquid in it and told me to drink it. And when I did, I woke up, covered in blood- but completely fine. Better than fine. I was stronger, faster, better-looking…" Callum flashed me a tight smile.

"But there was also something else, I could sense death, I somehow knew that I wasn't all there. That something had been taken away and replaced by something else. And I could look at someone, and see the exact time when someone was going to die- and how. Imagine my surprise, when I ran into my Uncle in the hallway and saw myself shoving a dagger right through his heart"

Callum sighed, and walked along the room in slow circles, trailing his hands along the wood lining of the bookshelves.

"The next year- my Uncle gave me my most memorable lesson. He called it the secret to invincibility- and it was surprisingly simple. 'Care about no one' he said 'When you love a person, that gives them a certain power over you. They are able to hurt you more than anyone else ever could. And they _will _hurt you. So destroy them.'" Callum broke off into a smile. By now I could feel my stomach churning uneasily, and started to get a sense of vertigo. Why was he telling me all of this?

"He even had a motto. 'Keep your friends and family far, far, away. And your enemies within range of your fist.'"

"But, Callum. You can't believe what he said. It's completely insane!" I blurted. Callum was rubbing dust between his fingers, he looked at me over his hand with raised eyebrows.

"Is it?" He replied, walking very close to me. "Think about it. How would you feel if _I_ were to kill you as opposed to a complete stranger, hm?"

I stood rigid. Did he know? Oh my god. Was he threatening me. I stared up into his eyes.

"Betrayed" I replied coldly.

"Exactly!" Callum said, clapping his hands together "And why is that? Because you and I know each other- are friends even, I think. So therefore, I could hurt you more than a complete stranger ever could. Do you see, now?"

I shook my head stubbornly, not liking the sick feeling in my stomach at all.

"No. And you aren't giving people enough credit, Callum. I'm sure if you let someone get close to you- you wouldn't be betrayed or disappointed"

Callum snorted "Oh yeah, I'm sure. Because it's not like half of the other side isn't trying to assassinate me or anything. But I'll just go ahead and cozy up to people and see where that gets me- I'm pretty sure it'll be dead"

"That's not what I am saying" I said softly "Callum, it is impossible not to care about people. Even if you don't want to- you will. And you can't just go around killing everyone who has ever showed you kindness just because you're afraid that they'll use it against you. The only power that someone can have over you is how much _you_ allow them to have. Besides, I'm not saying you have to trust every person you meet. All I'm saying is to give them a _chance_"

Callum stared at me, there was something like calculation in his eyes and he seemed unsure. But he was taking in what I was saying, even though I doubted that anything I said got past that shield of an exterior that he wore like an encasement of armor. But I waited, shivering slightly. Was he going to kill me?

"Fine." Callum said suddenly, completely shocking me still. Did he just…agree with me?

"Then I'm giving you a chance. I'll trust you with something" He added, completely freezing the blood in my veins. What was I supposed to say to that? _No, don't trust __**me! **__I didn't mean me, go trust someone else. Anybody else. Anyone who isn't going to turn around and tell everything you said to the council. To your **father**._

I was saved from saying anything though, because Callum was already talking again.

"Earlier you wanted to know, why I was really doing all of this. And how I got the scars, I'll tell you. And I'm _trusting_ you to never share this with anyone. Not that there would be a reason to tell anyone where I got my scars from. Or why I decided to become a terrorist at the age of eighteen. But I'm not talking about that, although I would prefer it stayed between you and I. I'm talking about what I plan to do, once I have the power. You can never tell a soul. Promise?"

What was I supposed to say? It seemed easy enough, but misguiding a vampire was way harder than it seems. Especially one who could slip into your mind and snatch the information out like he was snatching a piece of cake. Freaking vampires…

I turned to Callum, putting on the most believable smile I could manage- which turned out to be pretty believable and nodded.

"I promise" I replied.


	11. Chapter 11

**Well hell. For some reason, I did not like the way that last chapter turned out at all. What did you guys think? I have half a mind to go back and edit it when I'm done. I just don't think I've developed Callum's character enough so that he is perceived the way I want him to be. Not…perverse enough. So I'm gonna try again in this chapter. Hehe. Besides, that chapter took a sharp turn at somewhere I would have never imagined, it would seem that the characters are completely taking over and doing whatever the hell they want. sigh. I realize that it was probably a little confusing for some, so anyway, I'm just gonna use this chapter to tidy up a bit. Keep in mind, that I'm making this story up completely as I go along. I only have a vague sense of where I want the plot to go, and frankly I'm getting a little discouraged from the lack of support- save for my loyal and ever present reviewers who have stuck with this story from the beginning!**

**And ya'll know who you are :)**

**But where are the voices of all you others?! From what my traffic thing is saying, there's quite a lot of you and yet- nothing. Your opinion matters people! So let me here it by reviewing!**

**P.S. I'm also contemplating whether or not to change the rating to mature for my vibrant use of language and for other things like violence, on-coming gore, and other themes of the mature nature. Not that I really want to, in my opinion teens can handle just about anything. But hey, just a warning.**

**Okay, onwards.**

_

_Callum's POV - third person_

"You're so…_quiet_" Callum remarked as he circled around the other Death Walker. His movements were slow and methodical. He had to fight back a smirk when the girl trembled slightly at his swift mood swing. It never occurred to him that his stance, and overall behavior could be taken as intimidating. And if it had, he wouldn't care. He had a bone to pick with this girl. And afterwards he would decide whether or not to really pick her bones out- and wear them like a belt.

Echo furrowed her brow, the look on her face was doubtful. Her lower lip pressed out in a small pout and Callum had to force himself not to do something stupid. Like tearing the pouting lips off her face.

"Because I don't…understand" She said slowly, choosing her words carefully. Smart girl.

Callum inwardly rolled his eyes, and then he outwardly repeated the motion as he paused in front of her, hands still behind his back.

"What's so hard to understand?" He groaned "You said it yourself- before. 'Men are power- what was the word you used? Grubbing?- anyway it doesn't matter. But I will admit, that I'm a little annoyed at having to explain this to you for the third time."

Echo widened her eyes in irritation, and Callum grinned. It quickly left his face and he got serious.

"Now listen this time, Please" He growled "You already know, my dad is the leader of the council. Well what I'm doing is simply twisting the whole rebellious teenage rich- kid thing into something much more interesting. Mostly, it's just a game- that I'm quite enjoying, by the way- in which I get to cause a little havoc, kill a few innocents, and not have any repercussions for it."

Callum watched the faint hint of guilt wash over Echo's face before she quickly smoothed it over into a hard mask. She didn't smooth it quickly enough though. In a slightly more smug voice, Callum continued, hoping that she wouldn't catch the slight triumph in his voice as he spoke.

"You see, I can do whatever I want. I'm the council leader's son for god-sakes. No ones going to stand in my way…" Callum broke off, fighting the devilish grin and replacing it with curious suspicion. "Unless…you know something I don't?" He said softly, immensely enjoying the bright fear in Echo's lavender eyes as they snapped up to meet his.

"Why would you say something like that?" She said in a surprisingly smooth voice that held just as much incredulousness and contempt as it would have if she hadn't been lying. Too bad for her, Callum knew she was. He rolled his eyes dramatically, grinning, as Echo followed them warily.

"I'll give you this- you are an excellent actress." Callum said in his usual drawl. He smiled tightly when Echo went completely rigid- frozen in fear. "You had me going for a few hours there, but I'm excellent at psycho-analyzing someone's emotions, and facial features. Carefully, picking them apart, peeling all the unwanted stuff away until I find the truth behind those pretty violet eyes of yours. And I'm a big fan of a little game of cat and mouse every now and then"

Echo had become frighteningly pale and silent. Well, frightening to anyone else.

"You see, I first suspected the day I met you. Most of the Death Walkers here don't feel the need to get my attention with a huge, theatrical act of meaningless violence- although, it was appreciated- and then I noticed your hair. It obviously wasn't dyed and you're certainly not wearing contacts so I got to thinking…where on Earth could you have been that would turn you albino? And then I remembered something my dad said before. About sending Victor to check on the Fawx girl again. Supposedly, she had been locked up in a mental asylum for the past twelve years. Left to rot. Now that, that, explained a lot about you. Why you had decided not to give your last name, for example. Worried I'd do a background check or something? Find out who you really were, and how you'd been approached about doing a "favor" for the council in return for saving your pretty skin? Hm?" Callum paused with a small chuckle, enjoying the way that Echo's skin had gone from dead pale and then turned a rather pleasant shade of green. She exhaled a shaky breath, and met his eyes dead-on. Callum had to give her props for that. Most people who had just gotten caught in their lie would have shamefully ran away, tail between their legs.

"And I'm still here" Eco said, her voice didn't waver but was smooth and strong. Callum worked his jaw, and wondered if she had been reading his thoughts or something and his eyes narrowed. Apparently intimidation didn't work so well on this one. Of course it wouldn't, not when she had been spending time with his father's loyal and ever scary body guard, Victor, for the best however many years. Echo shot down his whole mind-reading theory when she continued.

"So, you obviously wanted to keep me around for something. Why not just kill me the first time you suspected? Why not kill me in Centralia?" She asked

Callum cracked his neck to the side and smiled charmingly at her, settling next to her on the deep red sofa.

"Because my dear, just because you're a lying traitor, doesn't mean you can't still be useful" He replied pleasantly. And leaned forward conspiratorially "I like you Echo. You've got guts, a hard thing to find in a chick these days. So I'm gonna keep you around. Just so long as you don't go mouthing off to vamp-boy. Victor really ruffles my feathers, if you know what I mean"

Echo cracked a small smile- an actual smile. That wasn't something Callum had expected. And she nodded understandingly, smile still intact.

"Yeah" she agreed "He certainly knows how to push a person's buttons"

Callum raised his eyebrows at her and leaned back.

"Believe it or not." He said coolly "I'm still going to give you a chance to earn my trust. I was kind of hoping to take this rebellion thing to a new level. I want to start a revolution. We'll clean out the council and put who _we_ want in charge, in charge. And then, when my father is looking at the rubble of the empire he created. The one thing he ever found joy in, I can finally find some peace of mind"

Echo gave him a look that said she highly doubted he, Callum Black, would ever find peace of mind. And he didn't argue with it. Frankly, he just got bored too easily. If there wasn't destruction and chaos, Callum would whip some up just for the hell of it. Echo was his one exception to the rule. For some reason that he had yet to figure out, he found everything she did fascinating.

"So where do I come into all of this?" Echo asked.

"Well," Callum smiled wickedly "You're going to be my queen in this little game of chess. I'll tell you what to do, and if I decide you need to be sacrificed for my well being- so be it"

Echo sneered and tossed a cold glare at Callum. It didn't faze him.

"And here I am, still without direction or any idea as to what your plan is" Echo hissed. Callum tsk'ed at her.

"So impatient" He muttered "I promised to tell you where and how I got my scars- Callum held up a dismissive hand as Echo opened her mouth to speak- trust me, you'll be very glad I explained this little secret to you." He said before launching into a quick explanation. Every now and then, he would glance at Echo from the corner of his eye and feel…_something_. Callum didn't recognize the feeling, it was strange, foreign, and most of all. Unwanted. He slowly felt his anger begin to build but didn't know who to blame, so pushed the oncoming tantrum aside and pointed at the scar near his eye with a dark smile.

_Echo's POV_

"What?" I said, unable to comprehend what I had just been told. I was staring at Callum with a mix of horror and disgust. I didn't want to look at him like that, but that's how I felt right now. Horrified and Disgusted.

"The scars," Callum repeated, with a wolfish grin "They were self-inflicted"

I stared at him with wide eyes, letting this sink in.

I recovered far more quickly than I would have expected and found myself looking at Callum as if for the first time. Self-Inflicted?

I was beginning to doubt my semi-suicidal theory and just go with overly-suicidal, when Callum glared at me.

"Not like that" He said coldly. "Now if you'll stop looking at me like I was a rat that just ran through your living room with a pair of shears…"

My expression quickly changed into one of remorse.

"I didn't mean-"

"Whatever" Callum interrupted, seeming to have completely forgotten it as he raised a silencing hand. "Anyway, that goblet of gold stuff wasn't the only thing the angel gave me"

Callum stood and walked over to one of the working desks and picked up an object. A very large dagger. The dagger was gold and looked insanely intimidating and sharp. I leaned away as Callum brought it closer. Callum grinned and with a sigh collapsed back down on the couch next to me. He stared at me with such intenseness that I had to look away. Callum mistook my being uncomfortable for being afraid and he said in an assuring, smooth voice.

"I would never hurt you Echo" and then his voice lowered a few octaves so that he could growl darkly "Unless of course- you made me"

I trembled slightly and felt my eyes widen in reaction but didn't say anything. Callum looked thoroughly amused. He leaned forward twirling the dagger in his hands.

"This dagger has special properties" He explained and pointed to the scar near his eye "I did this, when a punk punched me so hard that my eye started bleeding. It blocked my vision for a few days. I took the dagger, carved this into my skin, and ever since I've had the eyesight of an eagle in the daylight and of an owl at night. Apparently, the cut was close enough to my ears to do something for them too cause I have the hearing of a fucking jaguar. My mind can process 100 sounds at the same time reaching up to a few football fields away. And don't even get me started on the sense of smell and taste..." Callum sagged back against the couch, his face gleaming. My eyes scanned over his still bare chest with wonder. So I had been right about the super-hearing…

"So what are the other ones for" I said, and without thinking reached out and stroked one of the scars along his ribs. Callum went completely still at the same time that I whipped my hand back. He licked his lips slowly, staring at me from the corners of his eyes and shrugged.

"Strength, extra stamina and agility, things like that"

My eyes fell on the scar that was larger and more grizzly than any of the others, resting above his heart.

"And that one?" I asked. Callum winced. If I hadn't been watching him so closely I would have never noticed it. He ran a hand through his hair.

"That one was my dad" He said with a bitter smile "After…the stuff with my uncle I was sent back to my father's estate. We kind of got into a heated argument and he stabbed me" Callum threw his head back and laughed, which shocked me still.

"I had to stab myself again with the dagger to heal." Callum wrinkled his nose. It was quite possibly the most adorable thing I had ever seen. Ever. "That hurt"

I smirked, before I was overtaken by a large yawn.

"Looks like it's bedtime" Callum said as he stood and stretched. I watched as the wiry muscles tensed and contracted with a feeling of…what? Desire? I mentally shook myself and stood.

"Where are you going to sleep?" I asked, remembering the destruction that we had left his bedroom in. Callum's smile was condescending, like he was humoring a small child by answering the question even though the answer was obvious.

"We are in a mansion, with quite a few extra bedrooms. But I was just probably going to crash on the floor of the kitchen" Callum said sarcastically. I narrowed my eyes at him and turned to the door.

_

It was quiet as we walked through the quiet halls of the unnervingly dark house.

"God you're jumpy" Callum muttered as I jumped, feeling something warm and furry rub against my leg. It was Cilla. We stopped at my door, I had since been given my own room, thankfully. Other than Callum, the other Death Walkers were…eh.

I didn't realize I had blanked out and was staring at my door until I heard a familiar voice saying 'go on and get to bed, big day tomorrow' as I was just coming back to reality, I was immediately _slapped_ back to it. It left a feeling of vertigo but I ignored it and whirled around facing Callum with wide, shocked, furious eyes. He had just _smacked_ my butt!!!

To my surprise, Callum looked just as shocked and appalled by his actions as I did. We both shared a horrified look before, as if some secret agreement had been spoken, we both quickly retreated away from each other. He, walking rather quickly down the hall. And me, speedily receding into my room with a breathless sigh. What the hell had just happened?

I walked over to my bed and collapsed onto my pillow, letting out an irritated groan. Cilla raised her head and looked at me curiously.

Although tonight had gone better than expected, I was still freaking out. He knew, Callum knew. Yet that wasn't what I was freaking out about. I had _touched_ him. And more than that, there was a weird sensation that had pulsed through my skin when I had come in contact with Callum's flesh. Like static. Images quickly swirled through my head of Callum sending those odd static sensations through my entire body as he stroked my skin with gentle fingers and kissed me passionately as I moaned into his mouth.

I stared into the darkness of my room looking more horrified than I had at any point tonight. What?!

Had I just fantasized about me and Callum?!

I balked.

Freaking Death Walkers…

I was beginning to consider killing myself if Victor or Callum didn't do the job for me. These boys, with their mixed signals and extremely attractive yet slightly frightening qualities, were going to drive me insane. After this, I would probably be sent back to the asylum for actually being insane.

I groaned again, as I climbed beneath the covers and stared at the ceiling.

More images of Callum and me together swarmed through my head like bees buzzing annoyingly close to my ear. I quickly swatted the thoughts away and turned to my side, closing my eyes and forcing sleep to come.

That night, I dreamt of Callum Black.

**I would totally love you guys forever if I got thirty-two reviews before my next my update.**


	12. Chapter 12

**Hello my lovelies. You guys reached that in no time! Well, there's a few surprises in this chapter. And I know it wasn't explained in the earlier chapters, but you guys were asking about it. So, Callum knew about Echo being a spy, because he has spies of his own in the council. He'll never admit to it of course, but it's hinted in this chapter. And Callum and Victor **_**do**_** know each other. Victor's been his father's right-hand man for like ever, so he was around when Callum was growing up. And that's more than hinted in this chap. So…enjoy. And review please!**

**Notes:**

**jaceshadowhunter: muahaha. Yeah I have a tendency to do that. The next chapters from here on out will probably keep you confused until the end.**

**Casper the friendly vampire: You flatter me, I love it haha. And nonsense, there is no reason you should think that you aren't dedicated to your writing- just because I'm a hermit and have no life outside of my head. Seriously, you're pretty good with your updating compared to some other writers.**

**paramoreflames: Thank you. I can't believe it either- well I can. I'm kind of in love with him myself.**

**_**

_One week later_

Callum was in one of his moods again. It had been going on for an hour now, yet I still flinched each time a loud crash sounded from upstairs.

I sighed and looked up at Cilla from my bowl of cereal. Apparently, I wasn't the only one who felt the need to get out of the house.

"Hold on. I'm gonna get changed" I told her before rushing upstairs to my room. Since that night when Callum had explained everything, well as much as he could, we had been kind of avoiding each other. It was fine with me because at the moment, I didn't want any male person near me, me and the opposite sex were on awkward terms right now. I had been dodging Victor all week, and for more reasons than one. I stared at myself in the mirror, and gave a small smile. The bruises were fading more quickly than I had expected. I brushed through my hair and put on a bit of mascara before stepping to my closet and fetching out some black jeans, a long-sleeved black shirt, and some bad-ass looking black boots. This apparel had apparently become my new norm. I topped it off with my deep violet pea coat that I had bought yesterday, and some sweet little hunting knives. For safety. Once I was ready, I threw my bedroom door open and came face to face with a chest. It wasn't bare, the person was wearing a black shirt. I looked up into deep blue eyes, and took an unsure step back- not liking the feelings that came with being too close to Callum.

He smirked and leaned casually against the door frame, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Where we going?" He asked casually. I frowned at his implication. What, did he have to follow me now to make sure I didn't go blabbing to Victor?

"I was taking Cilla for a walk. Why?" I asked, turning to my vanity and grabbing the many silver-chain necklaces Callum had given me before letting them drape over my throat. His face lit up in appreciation with the gesture.

"Well at least you're not completely stupid" He muttered, but I could tell his sour mood had passed. The silver necklaces were for protection. Walking around alone in never-ending night while demons, vampires, werewolves, and fey roamed the streets could be very dangerous. That's where the silver came in. It hurts demons, vampires, and werewolves, and- thanks to the lone iron necklace- I was safe from faeries. Those things could be straight out vicious, in a real mind-screwing way.

I was careful not to make eye-contact with Callum for fear that I would do something incredibly stupid, like kiss him. I doubt he would appreciate that much.

I stood facing him, but not looking at him directly. I could feel my heart pounding away in my chest like a tiny little energizer bunny. It was really starting to freak me out. I had never gotten this way about any boy. It was a feeling that left me feeling completely helpless. I was nervous and jumpy and found it hard to compose a comprehendible sentence. Not that I was speaking.

We both kind of stood there. Me, standing in the middle of my room, not daring a glance at Callum. Callum, leaning against my doorframe, not looking at me either. After what felt like an eternity of unbearable tension and quiet, Callum broke the silence.

"I'll come with" He said, standing straight. I nodded and quickly brushed past him as I nearly ran down the stairs and towards Cilla.

Cilla was walking in anxious circles in front of the door. Poor, baby. It's been awhile since she's been outside.

Callum strode up behind me and opened the door for us, like a gentlemen. I walked outside, enjoying the way that the frigid air hit my face. It was colder than usual, and made it easier to process my own thoughts. I stuffed my hands into my coat pocket and turned to Callum. The moonlight sucked out the color of his hair and skin and turned it from gold to silver. He offered me his arm and I wound mine in his after taking a deep breath. The urge to kiss him had never been stronger. I quickly shook the thought from my head and turned my head up to glance at him.

"Where we going?" I asked. Callum shrugged.

"I had a few things I wanted to pick up in the Square, I guess" He replied. I nodded.

After a few moments of walking in silence I looked around, puzzled. It was extremely quiet here. From where the mansion is, we have to walk through the Grim Forest to get into town. And yes, Grim Forest is the real name. It's swarming with gross, killer insects, and flesh eating plants, evil trees, werewolves…basically a nightmare. But it was surprisingly still tonight. Not even the trees moved towards us menacingly, like they should have been.

"Are you doing this?" I asked, turning to Callum again. He looked just as troubled as I did- that answers that question. What was going on?

Cilla let out a small growl as a shadowed figure stepped out of the brush. They certainly didn't belong here.

The hackles on Cilla's back raised and she crouched low, letting out a warning growl.

Callum growled as well. I looked between him and the figure, who was still standing there. Creepy.

"You" Callum snarled. The figure was still covered in darkness, but somehow, their eyes started glowing a deep red and a large, sharp, smile spread over their face. I guessed that Callum probably remembered the figure's scent or maybe he could actually see the person. I couldn't. And i didn't really want to. The red eyes were freaking terrifying.

Think of how scary that would be to look at. A figure a few yards away completely shadowed by the trees, only being able to tell that they're balled or shaved- and then suddenly they're flashing you a piranha style grin, including the blood red irises. It looked like something out of Sin City.

Needless to say, I shivered just a bit. The figure stepped closer, and I clutched at Callum's arm.

"You" He repeated, still glaring furiously at the figure. The figure, who I assumed to be a man, probably a demon, widened their smile impossibly far. Stretching from ear to ear and showing off _two_ rows of scary as shit looking teeth. The kind of teeth made for flaying flesh and tearing limbs. I resisted the urge to scream, and instead whimpered, hovering extremely close to Cilla and Callum.

"I didn't think I would see you again after the mines in Centralia" The figure said in a surprisingly pleasant voice, there was a musical lilt to it that confirmed my suspicion of -demon, taking another step closer. "But I'm glad I did"

His red eyes snapped to me, and I could see his chest rise slowly as if he were deeply smelling the air.

"You two were so much…_fun_" He continued in a snarl. A very animal sounding snarl.

Everything seemed to speed up very quickly at that point.

At the same time that Callum took a flying leap towards the man, I took a giant step back. I tripped over a vine of thorns and fell back almost immediately. I clenched my jaw when I felt the thorns begin snaking all over my body, trapping me to the ground and cutting into my flesh and clothes when I tried to wiggle out. What. The. Hell?!

Somewhere nearby I could here the sound of flesh coming into contact with flesh, but I didn't know who was beating the crap out of who. I wriggled again, trying to get free, and cried out when a vine wrapped around my throat. Too bad silver couldn't protect against killer plants!

I was completely trapped now. Each time I inhaled, I would be stabbed by thorns from every direction. I could feel the thorns tucking themselves deeper near my throat- the blood thirsty bastards, yet the entire time I wasn't worried about myself. Where was Cilla? Was she okay? And Callum? Was he hurt?

I cried irritated tears at being so weak, and forced myself to relax. I couldn't sense any corpses near here. Another weird thing. Judging from my current predicament, there had to be at least a few others who had died the same way I was about to.

Were these thorns poisonous?

A sound farther off caught my attention. It was Callum. He was coughing and grunting as if he had just taken many punches to the gut, but there was no way I could be sure. Not when I was stuck on the ground.

And Cilla hadn't made a sound! Where was she?

I struggled again, careful not to move my face too much. No need to rip out my own throat.I gritted my teeth as the thorns sunk deeper into my skin, and kept going. They were growing!

I let out a frustrated scream and twisted even more, ignoring the pain.

"Echo. Echo! Stop, for Christ's- sake" Callum's voice came from right beside me. I turned to look at him.

His lip was busted, and he had a bloody nose, but that was the length of the damage I could see. Well, the physical damage, anyway. His eyes were blazing with so much fury that I had the urge to scoot away, quickly.

"Where is he? Where did he go?" I asked. Callum snarled as he reached for a hunting knife in his back pocket.

"He got away." Callum growled, as if it hurt him to admit it. I whimpered as the thorns drove deeper into my skin as response to Callum's attempt at cutting me free.

He cursed under his breath and his eyes scanned the forest floor around me. These thorns weren't going to let me go. Not alive anyway.

"Where's Cilla?" I managed to gasp. These thorns were becoming a real pain- and I meant that in the most literal way possible. They were getting hot. And it felt like they were searing my flesh, all the while fusing with my skin.

Callum let out a stream of colorful expletives and ran his hand through his hair as he got to his feet. His eyes scanned the forest again.

"I don't know. She took off- that's some loyal dog you got there" He muttered shaking his head angrily. His blue eyes flashed with the familiar gold and I watched him begin to glow. Soon, he was glowing so brightly that the golden light brightened the entire forest, like someone would had they been walking with a lantern. From my place on the ground I could only see into the trees. But that was enough.

Hanging from the branches were people that couldn't even be called people anymore. They were completely skinned of flesh, leaving only bloody muscle and tendons. And, since I still couldn't sense any corpses- that meant they were alive! Further, hidden in the trees hundreds of pairs of red eyes blinked down at me. I inhaled, getting ready to let out a blood-curdling scream when-

"Don't- scream" Callum warned "Don't look at them, close your eyes"

I obeyed, but doubted I'd ever get the image of those bodies dangling above me, dripping blood and fluids onto the forest floor, out of my head. After a few minutes of Callum trying to free me using his…abilities, and failing, I squeezed my already shut eyes.

"Just go" I said. Callum gave me a look of shock and disgust, as if I had just suggested that he should eat banana slugs.

"_What?_" He hissed

"I'd really prefer to die without an audience, while those things skin me and tie me to a tree" I replied, feeling more than a little light-headed. I was saved from Callum's reply, when Cilla returned. She was carrying someone between her jaws, the boy it looked like was still very much alive, but bleeding profusely. Immediately the thorns retracted, and snatched up the boy in Cilla's mouth. I was free.

Callum swept me up into his arms bridal style and looked over my wounds with objective interest. If it was bad, he wasn't going to let me know. Instead, he worked his jaw, and took off at a quick sprint towards the Square.

_

I don't know how Callum knew where Victor lived, but he got us there. And lets just say, Victor looked more surprised than I would have imagined. It was the most emotion I had seen flicker across the vampire's face in all the years that I had known him. Then it was gone. He frowned down at me, still in Callum's arms and barely conscious, before turning wary eyes back to Callum.

"I see you've found out our little secret" Victor purred, not at all seeming disturbed by seeing me and Callum at his front door with Cilla, already prowling inside. Victor shot the dog an annoyed glare before turning back to Callum and I.

"So what is this?" Victor asked "A warning? Nearly kill her and then expect us to leave you alone?"

Callum frowned before turning cold eyes on Victor. I didn't think that Callum was capable of looking _that_ evil. But he managed just fine. Victor's face darkened and his lips pulled back.

"I'm not here for anything other than…assistance." Callum seethed, "She was poisoned, and she'll die if the venom isn't destroyed"

Victor lounged against his doorframe, looking completely at ease and completely indifferent.

"What makes you think I care?" He hissed.

Okay, I'm not going to pretend that didn't hurt. And in addition to the searing feeling running through my veins I let out a small hiss in response. Victor's dark eyes flashed quickly to me and returned back to Callum. They both stared at each other warily before Victor stepped aside and gestured for Callum to come in.

"No snooping" Victor growled in warning as he shut the door. Callum set me gently on the couch and I almost smirked at the look of panic that flashed across Victor's face.

"She's going to bleed all over the couch!" He protested. A painful clenching in my stomach made me gasp and clutch for the closest thing- which was Callum's hand.

"Victor," I hissed "I swear to god..."

His eyes flicked down to mine and a wry smile graced his perfect lips. I felt his cool fingers trace my face before brushing the hair from my throat. He made a face of distaste and turned to glare at Callum.

"You let this happen to her?" Victor said softly, in a voice that was far more threatening than a growl. It made the hairs on my neck stand straight. Callum snorted without humor and his eyes darkened.

"I didn't let anything happen to her. And that's a little hypocritical coming from the person who put her in danger in the first place" Callum growled. Victor rolled his eyes, settling his gaze back at Callum, and looking bored.

"I'm not a person. I'm not even human. I don't know why me putting Echo in danger surprises you at all. You've known me far longer than she has" He muttered turning away and going into the kitchen. Callum glared at Victor's retreating figure and looked like he strongly regretted coming here. Why _had_ he come here?

I was getting used to the pain by now, either that, or it was fading. Callum still held my hand in his and I took comfort in knowing that he didn't look very happy at the thought of me dying. He had even gone to Victor for help. And from seeing the tension between the two, I could only guess that they weren't on the best terms. Actually, I had the feeling that they were only being civil because of me being there- I had no doubt that if I wasn't, they would be tearing each other to pieces.

Victor came back from the kitchen with a stainless steel water bottle. One where you can't see inside it. He handed it to me, and when I only frowned at his outstretched hand, he sighed exasperatedly and glared at me.

"Do you want to die or not?" Victor growled.

"That depends…what is it?" I replied. This, got a small smile from Victor and he handed me the bottle again. This time I took it.

"Don't worry" He said in a velvety voice "You'll like it"

And with that, Victor flashed Callum a toothy grin- flashing his fangs- and again, walked back into the kitchen. Callum glared at the thermos resentfully but said nothing as I brought it to my lips and tasted the warm liquid inside. At first I cringed at the bitter taste, but the taste quickly changed into something different…yummy.

It was warm and spicy with a hint of tang. Like sipping a caramel spice apple cider. I greedily drank the rest and let my head fall back on the couch feeling much better, but very sleepy.

_

I hadn't noticed I had drifted off until I woke to the sound of hushed voices speaking hurriedly to one another. It sounded serious, so I focused on keeping my breathing slow and even, like I was still asleep, and didn't move.

"I don't believe you" I heard Victor hiss

"Believe what you want, bloodsucker. But my father isn't who you think he is. You'll see. When they start wiping out all the Death Walkers, they'll come for your kind next." Callum replied, just as quietly.

"How do you know all of this?"

I heard Callum's snort, and forced myself not to smile.

"I have my ways, just like you. And, I'm the man's son. Not that I can even call him a _man_ anymore…and he calls _me_ the monster" I heard Callum snort again.

"Well you haven't exactly given him reason not to. Killing everything in sight, the way you do" Victor muttered. Callum chuckled silently.

"All I'm saying is, look out for yourself. Because I won't be. I can only handle my own" Callum whispered. It was silent in the room for a few seconds before Victor's voice echoed through the room.

"Is Echo, one of your own?" He asked, quietly, just not as quietly as before- probably sure that I was sound asleep. Another long pause.

"Yeah. I'll take care of her if that's what you mean" Callum's reply was clipped.

"It's not" Victor said coldly. "I _mean_ is she with you, or with me?"

This pause lasted longer.

"For now, I'd say both. In a week or so…" I could almost see Callum's smile as he trailed off. I heard the slight snarling response from Victor and it went quiet again.

"I'll look into it" Victor said finally.

"I thought you didn't care about what happens to our kind" Callum replied, sounding smug.

"I don't. Not all of you anyway. But if what you say is true- and I highly doubt it is- I have to look out for _my_ own" Victor growled.

"Understood" Callum sighed.

And that was the end. It went silent in the room until I finally decided to 'wake up'.

Their little conversation did leave me with a few questions of my own though, like 'what the hell were they talking about?"

That was one I would have liked answered. I rose up off the couch and clutched my head groggily. Apparently, I was still groggy- even with being awake for a good five minutes already. Callum managed a grin, and Victor managed to look completely detached, other than his nose crinkling up in aversion.

"Shower; now" Victor commanded. I shot him a glare as I stood on wobbly knees. I looked at my arm, expecting to see tiny little puncture wounds, but instead saw nothing but soft, pale, flesh. Completely unmarked. I frowned but said nothing and went to take a shower. I shot Callum a warning glance as I left saying what I hoped would perceived as: _behave_.

He rolled his eyes and put his palms in front of him in a gesture of surrender. And with that, I left the boys alone. Both glaring at the television uncomfortably as Cilla sat between them.

Freaking Boys.

**Well there you go. I don't know if anyone noticed, but I made this chapter a little longer for all the great feedback I've been getting. Don't forget to review!**


	13. Chapter 13

I washed through my hair, still frowning at my unmarred skin. There should have been at least one scar…

And then there was the other thing.

I could hear the television on in the living room, smell my blood stained shirt in the next room, and taste the dust mites in the air. I could also sense several corpses a few miles away. Something was very wrong.

What had Victor made me drink?!

I frowned and quickly stepped out of the shower, grabbing a black tank and baggy camouflage crop pants.

I walked past the living room, shooting Victor meaningful glares as I pushed the door open to the kitchen. There was a faint smile on his lips as he rolled his eyes and appeared directly in front of me. I jumped and glared at him more intensely.

"Stop. Doing. That" I hissed. Victor smirked and slid past me into the kitchen. I clenched my jaw and shut the door behind me before whirling and pointing an accusing finger at Victor.

He eyed my finger warily, as if it were about to shoot out lightening, before snapping his eyes up to mine.

"What did you do to me?" I demanded. Victor sighed and leaned against the counter giving me a look that I didn't understand.

"Pretty cool, aren't they?" He asked casually.

"What?" I snapped venomously. The corners of Victor's lips turned up.

"Vampire senses. Not quite as powerful as mine…but you still owe me a pint of blood" He replied coolly, carefully watching my face for a reaction. I knew what he was saying, but I couldn't wrap my mind around it. The idea was too…_something_.

"What?" I asked again. Victor raised an eyebrow and pulled his shirt sleeve back to reveal soft, pale flesh, marked with a small red scar above his wrist. My eyes shot wide and I looked over the entire kitchen looking for an escape from the inevitable. Instead, the bastards landed on a large steak knife still dripping a red liquid that was too dark to be human blood. But vampire blood…

I took a step back and brought my hand to my lips. Oh my god. Victor had given me his _blood_.

I felt the sudden need to vomit.

Blood. I had been given vampire blood. I pushed down the urge to gag as I stared wide-eyed at the ceiling. Oh, jeez. Victor had cut himself to save me. _Me_. There was a feeling that sprouted in my stomach, cancelling out the nausea.

I looked at Victor and felt as if I was looking at him for the first time. It may have been the enhanced senses but I still felt like I was _seeing_ him. Still gorgeous, still deadly looking, still cold. The only thing that was missing was his wicked smirk that sent shivers down my spine.

He lounged casually against the counter, but there was definitely something different about him. His eyes no longer snapped from one thing to another, no, his gaze was directed only on me. There was a tenseness in his eyes that I hadn't seen before, and it was in the set of his jaw.

He looked…anxious.

"Victor…" I took a step towards him and his eyes snapped up to follow my advance. He stood completely rigid as I reached out to touch him, and then once I wrapped my hand around his- he was on me. His arms wrapped around my waist and he pushed my back against the fridge, holding me in place with his own body as he kissed me. I kissed him back roughly, matching my passion with his, and marveling the way that his lips felt against mine with the new senses. I felt him smirk against my lips and the sudden sting, as he nipped at them with his teeth. His hands trailed my torso before he brought them to my face, and brushed them through my hair. I wrapped my own hands around his neck, deepening the kiss.

And then, with a start, we both pulled away as if we had been caught stealing cookies. There was a loud sound coming from the front door.

"What is that?" I asked. Victor's brow furrowed and he cocked his head to the side…listening. At that exact moment, Callum walked through the door, hands in his pockets and said in the most nonchalant voice ever:

"My dad's here. With three werewolves and a vampire"

Callum and I both shared a look before turning to Victor- accusing him with our eyes.

Is that why he looked so anxious? Because he was betraying us.

Victor glared at the both of us, looking irritated.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" He snapped "I didn't call your god damn father"

I breathed a sigh of relief, but Callum didn't look convinced.

"Why did you keep making all those trips to the kitchen? Were you calling someone?" Callum growled.

I saw anger-no, _fury_- flash behind Victor's black eyes and he took a menacing step towards Callum.

"Listen to me, you little brat" Victor hissed in his scary, calm voice "I did not tell anyone you two were here. The reason I kept coming into the kitchen, was because I haven't had fresh blood in over a week and was beyond thirsty before you showed up with Echo bleeding half to death. So instead of ripping your throat out and draining you dry, like I was, and still am, very tempted to do- I was drinking my stored blood, you jackass. Now if there's no more questions…"

There was a louder sound from the front door. Before, they had been knocking. Now it sounded like they had ripped the door from its hinges.

I heard Cilla snarling and barking furiously from the front room and stepped towards the kitchen door. Callum wrapped his arm around me and pushed me against the counter.

I gave him a _what the hell?_ look, and he rolled his eyes.

"Your not going out there. My father's not here for your damn dog, he's here for us. And if he sees us he's going to have those werewolves kill us on sight. And as tempting as introducing you to my folks sounds…" Callum trailed off with a smirk before adding,

"We need to get out of here- and the front door is not an option."

I sighed tiredly. "They already know we're here, Callum. They're freaking werewolves I'm pretty sure their hearing is excellent. Besides, I can handle myself"

He crossed his arms over his chest.

"And what do you suppose we do then?" Callum asked arrogantly. I rolled my eyes.

"What I was doing before" I replied, walking out of the kitchen and into the living room.

Sure enough, there stood three werewolves, two in wolf form. And a lady vampire, and the leader of the council- Callum's dad.

The man's eyes narrowed when he spotted me, and I smiled back. Cilla was nowhere to be seen, but that didn't deter me.

"Cilla" I called "Kill the werewolves"

The werewolf that was still in human form smiled.

"Your dog ain't around, little lady, scared her off. So why don't you-" His sentence was cut short when a giant black mass attached itself to his throat and took him down in a puddle of blood. Once Cilla was sure he was dead, she turned to the wolf closest to her, and used her tail to knock the shit out of the other wolf simultaneously. I smiled proudly at her, as Callum stepped from the kitchen, eyeing me curiously. There was a sadistic grin on his face, and a grim determination in his eyes. He handed me my chain necklaces and my hunting knives with a wink and a pointed look in the direction of the werewolves that weren't looking too hot, thanks to Cilla.

"Use protection" He said with a grin. I rolled my eyes, and thanked the bloody hell that tonight was the night I had vampire senses. I took one of my chain necklaces and threw it at the vampire. She easily dodged it, and I leaped forward - with incredible speed, I might add- and tackled the vampire to the ground. She snarled, and I socked her in the face- hissing at the pain that shot up my arm as I did so. It was like punching a rock. Before she had time to retaliate, I placed one of my silver necklaces over her throat. She screeched and flailed around as the silver seared her throat. I grimaced and then placed the others over her wrists and ankles, immobilizing her.

I looked around for Callum, to see him fighting off three demons. When had they gotten here?

Victor was in the corner arguing loudly with what's his name -Callum's dad.

And that's about when all hell broke loose.

First, Callum stabbed a demon in the jugular. This demon was way too close, and got its blood all over me. After I just took a shower too!

I was just thinking my lucky stars that he wasn't one of those demons with acid blood. _That_ would have sucked.

Then, everything got really loud, I could here Victor yelling in the background, screaming:

"You did what?!" and before the man could reply Victor was yelling again.

"What have you done? You've ruined everything! This is not what the council is about. We're supposed to protect supernaturals not lead them to mass genocide!"

"The council is about whatever _I_ say it's about!" Callum's father fumed. I don't think that I had even seen Callum's eyes flash with as much fury and pure hatred that I saw flash through Victor's at that second. He looked like it was taking every ounce of self-control not to reach out and rip the man's head off.

"You are a fucking idiot, Xavier. Do you think that the demon will stop once he's done with the Death Walkers? He'll go after everyone!" hissed Victor venomously. Xavier, gave Victor a look. One of pure disgust.

"You're the idiot! You all are! And to think that all of you actually thought-"

I was denied the chance to listen to the rest of the sentence, thanks to the efforts of a really pissed off demon. He tackled me to the ground and without missing a beat, punched me hard in the face. It was like getting punched by a rock. Hm, ironic.

I had never been hit in the face before, so that was bad enough, but when you add in the demon's super strength…I wasn't feeling too well. My vision blacked out for a second and I could only see little white dots at the edges of my vision, and was faintly aware of something running down my face. Whether my eyes were watering, or my nose was bleeding, I wasn't exactly sure. It could have been both. The demon's hands closed around my throat and I only managed to kick around awkwardly. His face contorted until he was flashing that scary, piranha smile and creepy red eyes and then he leaned, so that his mouth was hovering above my throat. Oh god.

I managed to fight the urge to peel his hands away from my throat and instead clasped my hands around one of my hunting knives in my belt. It was the one with the curved edge- used for carving.

I brought the knife up and jammed in right under the demon's chin. The demon went rigid, and I suddenly remembered that I should be worried he might have acid blood. Before I even had to process that thought, however, as if my body was on autopilot; I pulled the knife out and then slammed it back into his skull before pushing his weight off of me. Callum had just finished bashing a demon's head in with one of Victor's lamps when he looked up and smiled at me. Victor would make him pay for that lamp. I told Callum that, and he just chuckled before giving me a once over.

"You okay?" He asked. I was about to nod when a familiar feeling clenched my stomach and twisted it. The result was me vomiting all over my demon's face. Which in a way, was kind of funny. Callum sure got a laugh out of it. Actually, he fell onto the couch and started rolling around on it, clutching his stomach from laughing so hard. I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand and raised an eyebrow.

"It wasn't that funny" I commented. Callum wiped an invisible tear from his cheek and nodded.

"Yes it was." He retorted "It was projectile. And by the way, that's how I want to go out. With someone puking on my face"

I laughed. "Yeah, I'll get that arranged if the issue ever arises"

Victor walked up to us both, ushering us towards the front door. Callum's dad was nowhere to be seen.

"C'mon, we have to get out of here" He said in a weird voice. I paused, even Callum looked at him funny.

"What's wrong?" I asked. Victor's eyes were back to snapping up and around at every little movement.

"Something that can be explained far away from here. Preferably in the human realm. If we leave now we can still make it. C'mon lets go" Victor said, shoving me towards the door for emphasis.

"Did my dad do something?" Callum asked. Victor met Callum's eyes and I saw something in them. Pity?

Was Victor feeling sorry for Callum about something?

"He did everything. I'll explain once we're out of here. But this place isn't safe" Victor replied hurriedly. As if on cue, because it's always "as if on cue", the front wall- the entire wall- exploded inwards.

Callum threw me to the ground and shielded me with his own body, while Victor completely disappeared.

Once the rubble and dust cleared, Callum helped me to my feet, offering an apologetic grin.

"Well my luck just keeps getting better and better" said a familiar lilting voice. "Twice in one night. Wow…you two have some rotten luck. If either of you survive, you should get it checked out"

I turned to face the demon from earlier tonight, and a week ago in Centralia. He was around the same height as Callum and had one of those traditional Mohawks. The ones that looked like a skunk tail was on the top of his head. His hair- what little of it that he had- was black. His eyes were brown when they weren't red, and he kind of looked like a rock star. Callum smiled. It was that familiar smile that said he was two seconds away from shoving his hand down your throat and scooping up your insides with his hand, laughing mirthfully the entire time. Thankfully, the smile was directed towards the demon. And not me.

"I'm really going to enjoy killing you" Callum chuckled. The demon raised his eyebrows, tapping an index finger to his lips. He paced around in front of us, and I tried to ignore the extreme unease when he flashed me a wolfish grin.

"Are you, now?" The demon prompted, glancing sideways at Callum. My heart was doing that energizer bunny thing again, and judging by the way that the demon's eyes flashed to my chest, I wouldn't doubt he noticed. At least I told myself that's the reason he was staring at my chest. The demon's eyes flicked back up to mine, and he shrugged passively while slowly licking his lips.

"Well you're a pretty little thing aren't you?" The demon ventured in his musical like voice. He took a step towards me and Callum went rigid as the demon began to circle me predatorily. I glanced at Callum, willing him with my eyes to tell me what he wanted me to do. His only suggestion was running for the exit.

The demon popped up in front of me again, smiling wickedly. His hand shot out and grabbed my chin. I flinched and tried to pull away, but he just held my jaw tighter and tsked at me.

"You've got blood on your face" The demon said softly. He stroked my cheek gently, and I saw Callum's fingers twitch like he was holding himself back. I really wished he wouldn't.

"Don't touch me" I said, trying to shove away. The demon held fast and gave Callum an amused look.

"Well isn't she gutsy" The demon remarked, before turning back to me with glowing red eyes. "I wonder how those guts would look painted all over the walls…"

I stiffened and turned an icy glare on the demon.

"Probably very similar to what yours will look like if you don't get your hands. off. me. Right now" I snarled.

The demon threw his head back and laughed, releasing my face from his grip. I kneaded my jaw with my hand and looked around for Cilla or Victor. I was slapped back to reality by the demon clapping his hands together gleefully.

"Okay so who dies first?" The demon asked looking between both me and Callum before continuing "Usually I make the boyfriend watch me killing his little squeeze, but in this case I have a feeling you may give me some trouble" The demon said glancing at Callum.

"I hate it when chivalry gets in the way of my fun with the girls…so I think I may kill you first blondie."

Me and Callum shared a look before laughing.

"What's funny?" The demon asked, his musical voice replaced by a venomous snarl.

"You," I replied "So sure of yourself. It's actually really funny"

The demon's eyes flashed red and he grabbed my already bruised throat viciously.

"We'll see who's laughing" The demon snarled in my face, closing off my windpipe with his hand. I kneed him in the groin and stabbed him between the shoulder blades when the demon doubled over. I should probably add that I was coughing the whole time, but what do you expect. He choked me.

Callum kicked the demon hard in the face. So hard that I heard the cracking of bones. The demon collapsed onto the ground, unconscious. Me and Callum shared another one of our hallmark looks.

"Was that…?" I trailed off.

"A little too easy?" Callum filled in, nodding. "Yeah"

Callum heaved the demon over his shoulders and nodded towards the…nonexistent front door.

"He did that. And then all of that stuff in the forest and Centralia and just let us knock him out? Nah. Something's up. And I'm going to thoroughly enjoy finding out what." he trilled. I would be willing to bet that if Callum didn't have the demon tossed over his shoulders, he would be jumping up and down with giddy excitement. "C'mon, Victor's waiting outside with your dog." Callum replied, grinning wolfishly at me. Before pausing mid-stride and turning back towards me, smile intact.

"So, I know where you stand on maggots and terrorism…" Callum ventured "Where do you stand on torture?" He asked with raised, hopeful, eyebrows.

I grinned back and gestured towards the door with a breathless sigh. Oh boy.

**So, reviews would be awesome. Keeps me inspired, you know? So don't forget!**


	14. Chapter 14

**It's a little shorter this time but you'll see why. The next one will be longer, hopefully. Reviews always help of course!  
P.S. I've posted the first chapter to a new story. You guys should check it out and tell me what you think.  
P.S.S Does anyone know how to post pictures or url's for pictures on their profile. I've been trying and can't get it figured out. I have pictures of the characters for this story- so P.M. me if you know how!  
Now, enjoy.  
_**

Sleep would not be coming to me that night. Not after everything that happened.

Right now, the demon was locked up in a closet in the basement with some high-tech gear that keeps him from using his abilities to escape; stuff that Victor had lying around, I'm sure. The other Death Walkers were no where to be found, but that didn't really matter. It was easier for Callum, Victor and I to talk that way. And from the looks Victor kept giving Callum and I, it wasn't anything good.

"What's going on?" I demanded tiredly. "What did he say to you?"

Victor relaxed against the sofa, and pursed his lips.

"Well it appears, that we were being misled" Victor admitted, he stared at us, his expression serious. "Are you sure you want to know what I'm going to tell you?"

I nodded quickly and turned to Callum. He was looking at Victor with wary eyes.

"What did my father do?" He asked. Victor sighed.

"He, ah…He lied. About everything. It turns out that he wasn't even a sorcerer- but a demon. _You're _not even his son. He's your stepfather. He was able to shift his appearance to look somewhat like your uncle's. And your uncle wasn't Xavier's brother, but your mother's. Xavier's hated Death Walkers since the death of his wife, mostly because she didn't become one and just died. I tried to explain to him that it didn't work like that, that Death Walkers had to be brought back to life at almost the same exact second that they die. He wouldn't hear it. And then when you became a Death Walker, and part angel on top of it…He hired a very powerful demon to wipe out the entire Death Walker race. Claiming that you were abominations, not even supposed to be alive. Around seventeen years ago, a couple - the woman a nymph and the man a fallen Grigori, found out about what Xavier was planning to do. They had heard many tales about the demon that Xavier had enlisted help from. This demon, Thankuji, is extremely powerful, and said to be one of the sons of Lucifer. They knew that he wouldn't stop once he was done with the Death Walkers. Demons suck the life from everything, and won't stop until everything is destroyed. So the couple confronted Xavier about it. Instead of giving up, Xavier had his most trusted employee take care of them, and covered it up saying that they were humans that had found a way to the Other Side and were threatening our very existence. The woman, Lindalyna, was in labor at the time of death. When Xavier found out that the child had survived, and become a Death Walker, he had it locked away in an insane asylum. Apparently, Thankuji, was wiping the entire Earth Realm clean of Death Walkers when you guys popped up in Centralia. And then, he was finishing the job with the Death Walkers here in the Other Side when you guys were walking through the forest. You were just at the wrong place at the wrong time."

Victor stared at my and Callum's blank expressions as a deep, tense, silence fell over the room. I stared at my shaking hands, clenching my jaw and willing myself not to cry even though my vision was already being blocked by tears. My breathing was rugged and I was vaguely aware that I was trembling violently. Whether from anger or grief, I wasn't sure. My parents…hadn't been humans that were threatening the existence of the Other Side, they were super naturals- and heroes! They had been trying to do the right thing, and died because of it.

"You knew?" Callum asked in a tight voice. It didn't sound like a question, just a statement. Callum had gone all scary-calm which warned of violence in the near future. Victor shook his head, black hair flying in his face.

"No. I didn't know any of it. Not until tonight. When I reached into his mind and saw everything." Victor replied. Callum laughed- it sounded more like a snarl- without humor.

"No, you knew he wasn't my father. You knew everything." Callum said, his voice had reached that danger zone that said he was about to explode.

Victor had that shocked, disgusted look on his face. The one that says: _How dare you. I never lie unless it's absolutely necessary or ends up serving a purpose for me. Since what I just told you falls under neither categories- I was telling the truth and you're just acting like a spoiled kid in denial. Go die._

"I. Did. Not" Victor hissed through clenched teeth. Callum's eyes snapped up to Victor's and flashed an angry gold before the tendrils and glowing aura tore through. Victor was up in an instant, growling predatorily, challenging Callum. A tendril of gold flicked out, fast as lightning, and Victor dodged it before landing a kick in Callum's gut and sending him flying into the back wall. Callum was back on his feet immediately, and this time a golden tendril licked across Victor's face sizzling as it burned his skin. Victor hissed and dodged the next set of flaring tendrils before grabbing one with his hands and using it to throw Callum across the room. Victor growled at his hissing palms, staring resentfully at his charred flesh, before storming over to Callum and heaving him up by the collar of his shirt and throwing him against the wall again. Callum roared and tackled Victor to the ground before unloading rounds of hard fists to Victor's face. I was going crazy trying to figure out something to do to break them up. All of that had just happened in just under four seconds. They were just moving, bloody, blurs all over the room. Somehow managing to dodge both me and Cilla during the rampage. To think of the damage of this going on for another ten seconds…one of them could be dead. And I would not be one of those lame heroines who just stands in the corner screaming and doing absolutely nothing to stop them.

I ran over to where they were wrestling on the ground and pulled Callum off of Victor. With the help of Cilla, who wrapped her tails around his arms. I slapped my hand down on Callum's abdomen, warning him to back off.

"That's enough" I shouted.

Victor, completely ignoring me, jumped to his feet and punched Callum in the face, who was still being restrained by Cilla so he couldn't even fight back. Douche bag.

I felt something inside of me snap, and was faintly aware of all of the warmth being sucked out of the room as I whirled around and clamped my hand around Victor's jaw, digging my fingers in. Victor stared at me with a mix of fury, and confusion. I had just overpowered a vampire.

But I was too angry to be paying attention to that, or the dark black cloud-like aura that was surrounding me and blowing icy wind through the room.

"I said _enough_" I hissed venomously, digging my fingers in harder with each word to emphasize how much I meant business. After a brief stare down, that I won, I shoved Victor away and was surprised to see him actually fall. He was sprawled on the ground, rubbing his jaw and giving me the weirdest look. I shook my head and turned back to Callum- also giving me a weird look.

"Are you done?" I asked in a clipped voice. He nodded slowly and Cilla's tails released his arms. I turned back to Victor.

"You said that the demon was in the forest finishing off the rest of the Death Walkers" I repeated "Callum, where are the Death Walkers?"

Callum walked up beside me, staring at the ceiling and I watched as realization slowly dawned in his pretty blue eyes. After the realization came horror, and then disgust, and then fury.

"The…_people_, hanging in the forest" He grimaced. I winced and nodded.

Callum ran a hand through his hair, but paused as if he were contemplating ripping it out. After taking what I imagined to be a deep, calming, breath Callum grit his teeth.

"I'd say it's about time for that torture I mentioned earlier" He drawled before walking in the direction of the basement. I stared after him for a few seconds before turning to the floor where Victor was sprawled. Victor wasn't there.

"That hurt" His voice came from directly beside me, sending shivers down my spine when I felt his breath against my ear. I jumped but instead of glaring at him accusingly, I grinned and kissed him softly on the lips. He froze, and then pulled me back against him trailing butterfly kisses along my throat. I caressed his cheek and kissed him again before pulling away.

"C'mon" I said, leading the vampire to the basement where I was sure, Callum was already having his fun.

Basically, the torture consisted of me and Victor lounging against the far wall as we watched Callum beat the living shit out of Thankuji. What kind of name was Thankuji anyway? It didn't sound like it was from any place I had heard of.

"It's not" Victor muttered. I only realized that I had said that thought out loud when his reply came from beside me.

"Well then where's it from?" I asked.

"Some other dimension" He said, glowering at Callum. He was such a moody vampire…

I did have to hand it to Callum though. The basement was totally intimidating. Intimidating and cliché.

I warned him about that before he started wailing the demon and he just laughed.

It had stone walls, a stone floor, and a stone ceiling. There were no windows and it would be pitch black if not for the naked bulb that hung from the ceiling in the middle of the room. It reminded me off my cell at the asylum.

"So are you going to tell me why you let us take you or not?" Callum said a little breathlessly as he wiped some perspiration from his forehead. The demon laughed musically before turning his dark eyes towards me with a very disturbing look. He licked his lips slowly and turned back to Callum.

"I might be tempted if _she_ were to ask me. Easier on the eyes" Thankuji said gruffly. Callum narrowed his eyes.

"He's just trying to get in your head Echo, ignore him" Callum spat, his eyes never leaving Thankuji. A slow smile spread across Thankuji's face and he raised his eyebrows questioningly.

"So it's her head you think I'm trying to get in, then?" Thankuji laughed "You're warm but I'm afraid its closer to below the belt"

Callum looked like a dog raising its hackles as he glared at Thankuji. I could see the wheels turning in Callum's head and knew that we were in trouble. He was going to kill the demon. And then we would have no way of knowing why he had let us take him in the first place. My bet was as a distraction. He was going to distract us long enough for Xavier to come up with a plan to end us all and then Thankuji would tell us at the last minute. Callum's lips were pursed in a tight line as he took out a hunting knife. _My _hunting knife.

"Wait" I said. Callum hesitated, Victor raised curious eyebrows, and Thankuji smirked.

"I knew you'd warm up to me, doll" Thankuji snickered. I ignored him and stared at Callum, he didn't seem impatient or irritated like he would have usually been- he just waited for me to continue.

I exhaled a deep breath and shrugged "Wasn't I promised some acidic action back in Centralia?" I said with a quirky smile.

Callum flashed me a wide grin as he tucked the knife away. Victor's lips even tugged up in a small smile.

"Acid?" Victor commented "Impressive"

I winked at the vampire and turned back to Callum.

"So you were…" He trailed, giving me that admiring, affectionate look. Callum turned to the other side of the room going through a chest that he had brought down filled with a bunch of shiny, nasty instruments of pain. After a few seconds he let out an irritated sigh.

"I don't have any" He admitted. Callum turned back to Victor with raised eyebrows.

Why would Victor have-

"Yep. I've got some" Victor said in reply to Callum's raised eyebrows.

"I'll be back in a second" He said before turning into a blur that sped up the stairs, leaving me, Callum, and Thankuji alone.

Thankuji yanked on his enchanted chains playfully before raising his dark eyes to me.

"Acid, huh?" He questioned "I took you more as a decapitation kind of girl"

I laughed bitterly. "You killed my entire race and then expected a quick death?" I scolded, shaking my head in mock disappointment.

"No, no, no, no." I sighed "Even if I was the type of person who wasn't driven _crazy_ by maggots- which your horde of zombies were covered in by the way- you still pissed Callum off. That was a stupid thing to do. Quite frankly I'm surprised he's been able to control himself and keep you alive for this long. In any normal circumstance, I wouldn't wish Callum's wrath on anyone-" I paused to give Callum a bright smile. Then turned back to Thankuji. "But you see, your bird thing…_rained _maggots on me. And your moles cut me up pretty badly as well. So in this case- I'm going to have my fun with you- and then let Callum kill you."

Thankuji looked impressed by my little rant. That freaked me out a bit.

I was becoming just as cold and cruel as Victor and Callum. Eesh.

"I'm hungry" Callum sighed suddenly. "Lets get something to eat until Victor gets back. Your dog needs to eat too"

I shrugged. "I was gonna let her eat whatever was left of Thankuji over there"

Callum grinned at me. "I think I'm finally starting to rub off on you" He drawled.

I smirked and led the way back up the stairs.

As soon as we made it to the landing, I could tell something was wrong.

The living room was a mess but I was pretty sure that was leftover from Victor and Callum's fight earlier. Still, something felt…off.

"What the hell?" Callum said under his breath, as he visibly sniffed the air. After a few seconds he cocked his head to the side- listening for something.

That didn't look good.

Suddenly, Callum's head snapped up and he stormed towards the front door.

The door was ajar and had been knocked off one of its hinges. There were deep claw marks in the wood.

Callum stepped outside and sniffed the air again before growling deep in his chest.

"Shit" He muttered. My eyes followed his gaze to the lawn where there was a dark puddle of liquid. From the dim light of the three moons I was able to tell that it was red. Too dark to be human blood. But the blood of a vampire's…

"Werewolves" Callum cursed "they were waiting in the forest…"

I stopped listening to Callum as the reality slowly set in.

The feeling that I'd had when something was wrong…that was the tracker that Wes had attached doing its job. It was telling me what I had been trying to deny.

I was right. Thankuji had been a distraction. He was supposed to keep two of us busy while the others gained leverage. Victor. He was the leverage.

Victor was gone.

And from the looks of it, injured badly.


	15. Chapter 15

**Okay, to those of you freaking out about the whole Victor thing, worry not. I'm not going to kill him off, it's not really my style. Plus, he's pretty much got a major role in the story so, no. I will say this though, the next few chapters are going to get pretty dramatic 0_o.**

I felt on the verge of hyperventilation. Actually, I was hyperventilating. Victor was gone.

It seemed impossible. I couldn't even imagine the type of person that was able to overpower Victor. To somehow catch him off guard.

He was _always_ on guard.

"Well the blood says differently, doesn't it?" Callum muttered as he dragged me back inside. I hadn't even realized I'd said that out loud!

"You can let go of me now" I growled as Callum walked us into the kitchen. He released his grip on my arm and grabbed a granola bar.

"How can you be eating right now!" I fumed "Victor is gone! They took him"

Callum shrugged as he chewed on the granola bar.

"The guy is sort of an asshole. And an evil one at that. I don't know why he's putting on this act in front of you- but the guy you know as Victor is not the one I know. He's not…_helpless_ wherever he is. In fact, he's probably ripping their jaws off with his hand as we speak. So I can be eating right now, because one: I'm hungry as shit. And two: I'm not worried. _If _he wants to get back here, he will" Callum said with a full mouth.

I crossed my arms over my chest "You still have doubts?"

Callum barked a laugh.

"Doubts?" He repeated. "No. No doubts. I _know_ where that blood-sucker's allegiances lie. And they aren't with us, so don't kid yourself."

I took an angry step towards Callum

"What is wrong with you?" I demanded "Why are you acting like this?"

Callum worked his jaw, eyes hardening.

"It might have something to do with the fact that I just learned my entire life was a lie. And your little parasitic boyfriend knew about it the whole time. So excuse me, if I don't jump at the chance to save him- especially since we don't know whose side he's on"

I pinched the bridge of my nose, fighting back the urge to scream at him. He knew damn well that Victor had nothing to do with this. He was just saying it to push my buttons. And I was sad to admit that it was working.

"First off, Victor is not my boyfriend-"

"But you want him to be" Callum interrupted..

I glared furiously at him. Why was he doing this? He was really pulling out all the stops on this 'be a bastard' act. I didn't want the answer to how I could tell that it was an act.

I brought a hand to my hip and stared at the ceiling, taking a calming breath. After a few seconds of trying to work down my anger I turned back to Callum.

"I'm sorry" I said softly.

From the look on Callum's face I could tell that he wasn't expecting this from me. For a split second, I saw his mask fall away and caught a glimpse of the hurt, and angry, and _scared_ boy beneath. It vanished as soon as it appeared.

"I don't want your pity" He spat, turning away from me with both hands clenched against the counter.

"Well then what _do_ you want, Callum?" I asked "Why are you acting like this?"

In a flash, Callum was inches away, glaring down at me. Despite his rage, he managed to gently brush his hands through my hair and pull me flush against his chest. This was trouble. I forced myself to breath through the whir of emotions that were coursing through me.

He was so close. I could feel his heart beating rapidly inside his chest against mine, hear the slow, determined breathing, _see_ something flash behind his insanely blue eyes. It suddenly had me very frightened.

"Isn't it already obvious?" Callum whispered conspiratorially. I could feel his breath brushing against my lips, I knew what was coming- but I couldn't force myself to stop him. To stop _this._

His callused hand brushed lightly over my cheek, and his eyes took on a hypnotizing quality.

"Together we could be unstoppable" He continued in a soft, persuasive voice. "We could be all powerful. No one would cross us, or lie to us, we could _own_ them. Together, we could be invincible. Victor will hurt you. Be mine, Echo. Be mine, and I'll never let anyone hurt you. _**I'll**_ never hurt you"

I had to admit. The picture he was painting did seem pretty nice. Callum and I made a good team, and I had no doubt that together we could accomplish everything he had just said, but…Victor.

"Unless I make you right?" I said with a crooked smirk. Callum rolled his eyes and pushed away from me.

"You see?" He growled "You're impossible. I confess my _feelings_ like a pansy ass cupcake, because you wanted me to. And then you make me feel like an idiot for doing it. There's no making you happy"

I laughed, grabbing him by the collar and pulling him down to my height.

"You weren't confessing your feelings. You were telling me your plan for world domination. And you cannot honestly tell me that your feelings for me, have nothing to do with Victor wanting me. It's typical male testosterone bullshit, and that's okay. I like you Callum Black. I like you a lot. And until you can say that you would rather choose me over all the power in the universe- I will not be with you. Ever. I'm willing to wait. But not forever. Because there is a certain male vampire whom has showed me exactly what I mean to him, and I won't keep him waiting because you can't decide on what you want" I kissed him lightly on the lips before cuffing him over the head.

"Now, go get the demon to tell us where they took Victor and meet me at the front door in ten minutes" I commanded.

"Ten minutes? Who got kidnapped and put you in charge?" Callum grumbled as he brushed my hands off of him. I smirked.

"You could get it done in five minutes if you really wanted to."

Callum gave an exasperated sigh, slumping his shoulders and looking skyward. He tilted his head down to look back at me with a silly grin.

"How bout' a kiss for good luck?" He said raising his eyebrows up and down, maniacally.

I snickered and pointed towards the basement.

"Maybe, if you do good and play nice when we get Victor back" I sighed. Callum rolled his eyes, groaning.

"So many rules!" He fumed "I don't recall Victor ever having to something for a kiss. He just got them"

I raised interested eyebrows. "Jealousy running amuck…_check_."

Callum narrowed his eyes at me. "Shut up. Power craving whore"

"Pansy-ass _bitch_" I shot back. Callum's already narrowed eyes, became thin slits.

"Take that back you promiscuous, beleaguering, ingénue"

I laughed loudly at that. "A lot of big words" I commented "Did you learn them all at your pansy school?"

Callum chuckled, shaking his head "You're a bitch" He said as he snickered.

I shrugged and again, pointed to the basement. Callum rolled his eyes and turned in the direction I pointed.

As he walked, he muttered "Yeah, yeah"

I turned back towards the kitchen, biting my lip. Had I done the right thing?

Rather than ponder my questionable decisions, I opted for a quick arming of myself.

Completely oblivious to what was going on downstairs in the basement.

_**Victor's POV**_

Victor snarled and growled ferociously, but refused to give his attackers the satisfaction of hearing him scream. The sadistic fucks had been busy the past year.

Creating weapons to use against other supernaturals. Their own kind.

They even showed Victor the courtesy of trying out one of those mentioned weapons on him.

Apparently, Xavier had witches doing his dirty work now. Victor hadn't even caught onto their scent before they thrust the silver bag over his head.

A Fucking Silver Bag.

He didn't need to breathe, but that wasn't the point. The lack of air was just to make him even more uncomfortable than the searing flesh, and melting skin already was.

Victor worked what was left of his jaw angrily.

The bitch witches had even drained him of blood before they tossed him into their little cage.

Being drained didn't do much except make Victor's healing process that much slower. So he just had to endure his face being burned off until they took the damned bag off of him.

His hands were tied behind his back with silver cuffs that sliced into his wrists, each time the carriage caught the tiniest ounce of turbulence- the silver cuffs would mercilessly cut deeper into his wrists.

Victor snarled viciously.

"Shut up, leech" said one of the witches. A half second later, Victor was hissing in pain as she landed a hard slap across his bagged face. The silver dug in and scraped off the skin on the right side of his face, leaving only bone and torn muscles.

All at once, a thousand different images of how he would kill the witch bitch whirled around in his head. She would die for that.

Victor stayed quiet the rest of the ride, mostly zoning in and out of consciousness.

Contrary to popular belief, with enough blood loss and enough pain, vampires were absolutely capable of passing out.

The next time Victor woke up, he was on the ground of a room. It would have been dark, if he didn't have excellent night vision, and it would have been cold- if he could feel those things anymore.

He brought his cuffed hands to his face, lightly tracing his skin. Skin.

He had been out for awhile if it had already manifested.

His thoughts turned into a different direction.

Echo.

Was she alright?

If that Black brat had let something happen to her…

Victor smashed his head back against the wall and stared at the ceiling.

How had they managed to sneak up on him?

Victor had made sure to be meticulously careful- more so in situations involving life and death. And yet, here he was. In a cell, bound with silver, and- not alone.

Victor's dark eyes snapped up to meet liquid, hazel ones.

He stared intently at the woman hunched in the far corner. No, not a woman. A vampire.

She managed a small smile behind her raven hair.

"What are you in for?" she asked curiously.

Victor ran his eyes over the layout of the room, searching for weak spots in the stone, before turning back to the woman.

She had straight, full, black hair. The typical pale skin, high cheekbones, and large, round, hazel eyes. She was pretty. More than pretty.

Victor shrugged this off, uninterested.

"Not sure" He said gruffly "They don't seem like the types who read you your rights"

The woman snickered and flipped the black hair from her face with cuffed hands.

"No." She said "No, they're not"

"What about you?" Victor asked with raised eyebrows.

She lifted and dropped her shoulders in a light shrug.

"I killed one of the hags from hell after she killed my sire. The murder was completely unprovoked, so I was justified in my revenge. _They_ didn't think so" She muttered.

"So you're new to this then?" Victor assumed. The girl shook her head.

"No. I'm about two-hundred years old. I just stayed with my sire because there was no one else. These days, vampires don't really stick together"

Victor nodded thoughtfully.

After a few seconds of silence, he leaped lightly to his feet, without using his hands, and worked his muscles as he jumped apprehensively.

"So how're we getting out of here?" He asked, scanning for faults in the walls again. Not convinced that there wasn't at least _one _weak spot.

The girl shrugged again. "No weak spots. I already checked. There's four guards outside this room, armed with stakes and silver. We could dig our way out of the east wall, but it leads into the fey forest. And I don't know about you, but I'd prefer dying by these guys rather than the claws of vicious-ass fey people for trespassing on their land"

Victor scratched his chin errantly and looked at the girl seriously.

"No" He said "No, you wouldn't"

The smile that graced her face was slow and sadistic.

"No, I wouldn't" She repeated.

_**Echo's POV**_

"Are you crazy?!" Callum hissed. "No. Absolutely not"

I rolled my eyes.

"Damnit, well then what do you propose we do?" I snapped. Callum smiled treacherously.

"How bout' what I suggested in the first place?" He offered "Leave the blood-sucker to fend for himself"

At my glare, Callum sighed.

"Okay, _fine. _You take Cilla through the front, I'm going to go around back towards the east wall. Victor's in one of the cells over there." Callum growled. My brow furrowed.

"How do you know Victor's on the east side?" I asked. Callum glanced towards the direction he had mentioned, a dark forest cut off the perimeter. He turned back to me with his lips twisted up.

"I can hear him banging against the walls over there. As far as I know, this place was just recently built. No one has ever dared to get this close to the Fey Forest. I'm assuming that Victor's the only prisoner they've got in there"

"Fey Forest?" I asked "Why not?"

Callum again turned to frown in the direction of the forest.

"There's a reason no one has ever seen faeries up close" He said darkly "They live in there. And as cliché as it sounds, anyone who goes in doesn't come out"

It did sound a bit cliché, but it still frightened me.

"And you want to go in there?" I fumed "Are you crazy?! No. Absolutely not"

Callum smiled down at me. Whether it was from me showing an interest in his well-being or from quoting his earlier statement, I wasn't sure. I had my money on both.

"Don't worry about it" He assured "I'll be fine"

I shook my head stubbornly.

"No." I repeated, "I won't be able to focus if I think that something is happening to you"

Callum rolled his eyes impatiently. His mind had already been made up.

Semi-suicidal prick.

"Relax. Nothing's going to happen. I wouldn't go in if I thought I couldn't handle it-"

He broke off at my pointed look. "Okay" He agreed "Maybe I would. But that's not the point, I can handle myself. And I sure as hell wouldn't risk my ass for that leech of yours, so I'll be watching out for myself. I'm only going to be treading the border anyway."

His explanation eased my panic a bit and I exhaled slowly.

"Okay" I said softly. Callum and I shared a look. This one was different from our other ones. There was a hidden message behind it that neither of us seemed able to decode, so we just stared at each other in silence.

As the tension grew, neither of us finding an answer for this new _thing_ we were feeling, Callum swallowed and nodded solemnly.

"Be careful" He said sternly, the look in his eyes changed into something hard and serious. I raised my eyebrows lightly, bringing a hand to my hip.

"If you run into trouble, raise an army of forest animals" I replied, knowing he would react better to a joke than to me telling _him_ to be careful. He smiled slowly.

"Yeah, whatever" He said quietly "Just get your job done, and I'll get mine"

I nodded. "I take out the guards, you take out the east wall"

Callum sighed, handing me one of his more favored daggers. He closed my hand around its handle and grinned at me crookedly.

"Alright, toots. I'll see you when it's all over and done with." He whispered before disappearing around the corner of the building in a flash of gold. I stared after him and tightly grasped the blade in my hand.

Kill and don't be killed, right?

I turned back to Cilla, she walked in slow circles near the two guards who watched the entrance of the small prison. Completely oblivious to the giant hellhound, who was closing in on them quickly; waiting for my command. I twirled the dagger around in my hands and smirked at the dog.

"Cilla" I said lightly, grabbing her attention. "Kill"


	16. Chapter 16

**IMPORTANT: okay guys, first, I want to thank all of my awesome, amazing, reviewers. You guys rock. And now, I wanted to give you a heads-up. My story Hallowed Ground is being deleted until I can sort my shit out and make it flow more smoothly, but it's being replaced with a new story; which takes place in the Death Walkers universe. There will be some cameos of the characters in each story- so just check it out, I'm posting the first chapter later today. It's called Hex Hollow. There won't be any spoilers, it kind of just runs along side this one- but yeah. I'm excited about it. And lastly, some of you may have noticed that I changed my pen name. So that there is no confusion, Edelweiss, is an Austrian word/flower that is pronounced Adelvice. You might of heard the song about it in The Sound of Music? Well, yeah, that's it. Feel free to review!**

_**Callum's POV- third person**_

Callum cursed aloud as he saw yet another pale, ethereal figure duck behind the trees. These faeries were really starting to piss him off. What he hated most, was that they didn't play fair. The nasty little cheats.

He produced a short sword from his belt and let it glint in the moonlight. He was sure that they would appreciate the smell of iron to pair with his icy glare.

He treaded along in silence, listening for anything other than the scraping of stone coming from the blood-sucker's cell. Of course, he had been right. If the leech really wanted to do something, he would.

Callum paused, hearing something in the distance. A thumping.

His lips twisted up in a faint smile at the sound of Echo's laughter from a few yards away, but he forced himself to focus. The thumping was getting louder.

It sounded like…

Beating hooves.

A half second later, a black horse came into view from behind the trees. Not a horse, a kelpie. Where did they find one of those, he wondered. On it's back was one of the fair folk. Pale, and glorious, and- male.

Callum frowned. He would have been more inclined to show mercy had the fey been female. He didn't care much for other males, they always felt that they could do his job better. What a loud of bullshit.

He braced himself as the leather-clad fey warrior approached. The horse rushed past Callum, attempting to circle him.

In a flash of light, Callum whipped out his blade and drew it across the kelpie's stomach, smirking at the sound of it crashing to the ground.

Then there was the fey to deal with.

Callum turned to see the faerie lying on his back. He kicked it hard in the ribs and pulled the faerie up by his long hair.

"You do know the consequences for killing a fey, do you not?" said the faerie man gruffly. Callum smiled treacherously.

"Yep."

"And you proceed?" The fey continued. Callum gave the faerie a look that said: _you're kidding, right?_

"I could help you get the vampire out" The faerie bargained.

Whatever happened to dying with dignity, and taking it like a man? Nooo, now everyone had to beg and scream and cry and _bargain_.

"I don't need your help" Callum growled. The faerie's mouth broke into a knowing grin.

"Really?" He asked, voice dripping with sarcasm "Because last I checked, you're running low on Death Walkers. And looking at a war between demons and other supernaturals"

Callum narrowed his eyes "Your kind would be included in the term _other supernaturals_"

The faerie shrugged lightly, even with Callum's grip still tight around his hair.

"Minor technicality" He purred. "But we have the numbers you're looking for"

"You help me, and for what?" Callum asked "The life of one fey can't mean much to your kind"

The faerie laughed mirthfully and turned his golden eyes on Callum "True. But the life of a fey prince…"

Callum raised his eyebrows curiously. "You are prince of the fey, in line for the crown?"

The faerie smirked, putting his hands up in mock surrender. "You got me" he whispered.

Callum narrowed his eyes suspiciously.

Just because faeries can't lie, doesn't mean they can't be deceitful- his uncle had taught him that. After a few moments thought, Callum hauled the faerie to his feet and put the iron sword to the faeries throat; almost touching the point of the blade to the faerie's flesh.

The faerie hissed in response, but made no move to attack or move away. Callum commended him for that. At least the faerie wasn't a total coward.

"Alright faerie-boy. You and I are going to take a little field trip" Callum grinned.

The faerie looked from side to side anxiously.

"My kind never leave the forest. It is not our way" He said. Callum shrugged.

"Well, tonight you're going to." He replied, irritated. "Get going"

He pushed the faerie forward and poked him in the back with the iron sword for emphasis.

The fey whipped his head back and glared icily at Callum.

"That. Was. Not. Necessary" The faerie hissed.

Callum smiled widely "Oh, I know"

_**Echo's POV**_

I ran close behind Cilla through the dark, stone hallways, reveling in the thrill that I got from being so close to death, _again_. This must be why Callum enjoys fighting and killing so much. It was the knowledge that with one misstep, or wrong move- you could be dead. And this time, you wouldn't be coming back stronger than before. You wouldn't be coming back at all. The thought sent an extra burst of adrenaline to my nervous system and helped me evenly distribute my Power to the right places. Focus less on the corpses, you aren't trying to raise them- focus on your senses. Enhance them. Very slowly, I tugged at the Power, sending it to my eyes and limbs. I felt it like I would feel a cool breeze. My arms and legs felt lighter, more lithe and agile and my sight was better than perfect. I grasped the dagger that Callum had given me and threw it at one of the oncoming guards. It hit him, and he fell dead. Without even slowing down, I continued running, simultaneously pulling the dagger from the man's eye and turning to slice it down the chest of a new attacker. When he only staggered back, I took the dagger and plunged it deep into his chest. As he died he pulled me close and whispered something to me. I crinkled my nose at the feel of his hot, wet breath against my ear.

_You will all die_, he whispered. I roughly pushed him away from me and laughed in his face, raising an amused eyebrow.

"Already dead, buddy. Rest well" I said cheerily before running to catch up with Cilla.

We were getting close to Victor's cell.

I obviously didn't know how right I was, in that thought. There were four guards outside one door. I assumed it was Victor's, but that wasn't what made my heart sink.

These "guards" were vampire hunters. Which would be fine, if it were one. Death Walkers and Vampire Hunters were pretty evenly matched ability wise. And with Cilla, it would be a walk in the park. But these four guys looked like they were prepared for war. High tech gear and armor, and some nasty weapons that I sure as hell didn't want to be on the receiving end of. We, and by 'we' I mean Cilla, easily disposed of the first three. It was the last one that caused a bit of a problem. He was big, and had this whip made of silver chains. I was sure that if he used it the right way, he could probably sever limbs with it.

He stormed towards me, and I felt the world slowing down around me as my vision zeroed in on the vampire hunter. As he stormed us, with the coiled whip tightly in hand, Cilla charged.

She looked like a beautiful, black panther, about to maul its prey. Her teeth were exposed and shiny as she widened her maw and reached a clawed paw towards the vampire hunter's face. It all happened so slowly, and then all at once- everything sped up.

To my horror, the vampire hunter stopped dead in his tracks and flicked back his wrist, as the whip gleamed and shot out behind him. I saw it in his eyes before I saw it in his movements. The whip turned infinitesimally and was now coming down on the thinner side. The side as sharp as a razor. And that's when I knew.

The whip was _made_ for severing limbs. And right now, it was lined up with Cilla. She was still flying through the air, sailing towards him. It would only take one small twitch and the whip would split her in half. The hunter's whip hand twitched, and the whip went sailing for Cilla. I stared on in terror, as the silver whip came down. I only managed to scream in warning towards my dog before the world around me froze completely.

_**Callum's POV**_

He was just yards away from Victor's cell wall when he heard her scream. At first, he stood completely frozen, unable to come up with a could explanation for the sound. Echo hardly ever screamed. Not unless there were maggots near by, or something truly frightened her, and since not much truly frightened her- whatever it was, was bad. Callum shot off like a bullet, completely forgetting about faerie boy and barely registering that he had just blown through the vampire's cell wall without even thinking about it. He dashed through the gaping hole and past Victor who stared at him dumbly before quickly falling into step beside him. Callum stormed through the cell door and out into the stony hallways, where he saw her.

It was worse than he thought. She was standing in the middle of the hallway, staring wide-eyed off at something, breathing ruggedly and near hysterics, with her hands up as if she were trying to ward off an angry dog.

Angry dog…

Where was her mutt?

Callum followed her wide, violet eyes, and saw where the hound was.

Frozen in the air, clawed paws out and reaching for a vampire hunter's face, her own face contorted into the snarling, frenzied, look that was common amongst hungry dogs. The vampire hunter was also frozen, and only inches away from slicing the hound up into dog stew.

Victor, managed to get a hold of himself first. He leaned casually against the wall staring curiously at the two creatures frozen in time while fighting to the death.

"I suppose this is a nymph and/or fallen angel thing?" He mused silkily. Callum wanted to wipe the walls with the vampire's face, but settled on clenching his jaw tightly.

"I'm afraid to move my hands" said Echo in a panicked voice that Callum hadn't heard from her before. "It might make things start back up again"

Callum watched a small drop of perspiration fall from her temple and down her forehead as she continued to stare at the frozen scene in front of her. She was stronger than he gave her credit for.

Maybe it was _she _who should be teaching him some new tricks.

Callum settled back into himself and turned on his usual drawl.

"Don't worry, doll face, I've got it" He sighed, walking over to the vampire hunter and none to gently slipping the whip from his hands. Victor raised his eyebrows curiously and stepped towards the vampire hunter, eyes sparkling.

"I bet we could do just about anything to him, in this frozen state of his" He muttered, staring at the vampire hunter with a sadistic glint.

Callum's lips twitched. He didn't like the bloodsucker, but the guy had style.

Callum's eyes snapped up to Echo's.

"We should try it on the demon later" he told her as he stepped away from the frozen figures.

Her face went from being determined and focused to puzzled.

"You didn't kill him?" She asked. Callum raised incredulous eyebrows at her.

"Are you kidding?" He retorted "I haven't even had my fun with him yet. No, I figure I could use him for about a week"

Echo rolled her eyes and dropped her hands.

It was like taking a movie off of pause. All at once, the sound of Cilla's loud growling and snarling resonated off of the walls. Callum watched with deep satisfaction as the smug look in the vampire hunter's eyes turned into pure, manic, panic. And then his eyes were splat against the wall as Cilla's claws raked across his face and she crushed him to the ground. He let the image replay in his head of the look in the vampire hunter's eyes in his last moments before death.

Priceless.

He hated all of those overconfident nubs who would risk their lives on the notion of their own invincibility.

The sad part of it was, that only people who had experienced death first hand were able to see how truly stupid everyone was. How foolish it was to worry over things like religion, and what happens to your body after you pass on, to believe that your day of judgment would come but it wouldn't be today, or tomorrow, just sometime far off into the future.

Thinking like that was _retarded_. You have to live in the moment everyday of your life, because once it's all over- you'll have regrets.

None of the choices that you've made while alive matters when you're dead.

So as Callum replayed the change in the hunter's eyes as he watched the hellhound overtake him- he laughed.

And was quickly joined by Echo and Victor. Vampire and Death Walker, the only races that actually knew what true death was. True death was just sleep. Rest.

_**Echo's POV**_

I had to admit, I was pretty smug about the death of that vampire hunter. The bastard was about to kill my dog!

I yawned tiredly and ran a hand through my hair. Damn, I'm tired.

"Is it all clear?" asked an annoyingly feminine voice from inside the cell. Following the voice, came a long-legged, cream colored, raven-haired bombshell. Callum and I both turned to Victor, but for different reasons.

I turned to him, raising a suspicious eyebrow. Callum turned to him with a smile that competitive siblings would share when one of them was caught doing something they shouldn't. It was a smile that said: _oooh, Victor's in troubleee_

"Who the hell is this?" I asked, crossing my arms over my chest. Victor's lip quirked up in a small smile and he gave me one of these…_looks_. It was sexy as hell.

He licked his lips slowly and stepped towards me.

"Wouldn't _you _like to know" He teased. I narrowed my eyes but couldn't hide my growing smile. Freaking vampires…

"I'm Vera" she said, practically purring. I watched Callum glance at her and look away before doing a double take. I don't know why, but that made me angry.

I looked at her, making sure to make myself seem very unimpressed and in the most snobbish way that I could manage I said "humph"

A slow smile spread across Callum's face and he used coughing to cover his laughter. Victor simply managed to look as stoic as he always did and gracefully leaned against the hallway.

"Is it safe to come in?" Said a _new_ silky voice. A half-second later a boy not much older than Callum stepped into the hallway.

I looked him up and down slowly.

Extremely beautiful in a very ethereal way. With fair skin, and straight, almost white hair that reached his shoulders. Very sharp features, with golden eyes that slanted up slightly near the temples, and rosy lips. Was he a…?

Victor frowned at him. "Fey? What are you doing here?"

"Your friend and I have a deal" the faerie replied, his golden eyes scanning over the group calmly and pausing at me.

A low, warning growl sounded off in Victor's chest and Callum's eyes narrowed to thin slits.

I laughed silently to myself. Oh yeah, because it's not confusing enough already with you two, but lets add another guy into the mix!

"Who the hell are you?" Victor and I asked the faerie at the same time. Callum rolled his eyes, swatting his hand dismissively.

"He's just some faerie that I ran into in the forest." Callum explained. Victor and I shared a look.

"And you didn't kill him?" Victor asked, surprised.

Callum's eyes hardened as he stared back at the vampire. "Nah. He promised help from his little faerie group in return for keeping him alive"

"And you _believed_ him?" The girl, Vera, asked.

I wanted to snap something at her like 'nobody asked you. Go away'. But since her question had been exactly what I was thinking, I stayed quiet.

"No not at all" Callum replied with a shrug "But he could be useful"

I wearily pet Cilla and looked between Callum and Victor, begging to finish this conversation after we had some sleep. Victor shrugged in response.

"I need to drink something" He sighed.

"I'm a little tired myself" Callum drawled.

The faerie and vampire girl stared at Victor and Callum like they were insane. Obviously, they were unaware that the eyes were the doorway to the soul.

"Alright, lets go you two" Callum sighed. The girl, Vera, looked as if she was about to protest- but to my sheer annoyance and fury, Victor stopped her.

"Didn't I hear you say something about Vampires sticking together?" He asked her innocently. She opened her mouth, closed it, and then smiled at him.

"Yeah, I guess"

She guesses? Well she better _guess_ to keep her distance.

Victor's eyes flicked to me and he smirked. "Play nice" He warned.

Callum instantly perked up and looked at me with a knowing, smug, grin.

"That reminds me" Callum said. "I believe I was promised a reward for my good behavior and overall participation in this little rescue"

My mouth twitched and Callum smiled sweetly at me.

"Don't worry" He drawled "I'll cash it in later"

I rolled my eyes and walked towards the exit. On second thought, maybe I would get some sleep tonight afterall.

"Well I would assume so, since it's always night here" Victor muttered under his breath as he walked beside me. I pinched him in the arm.

Freaking mind-reading vampires…


	17. Chapter 17

**Ohmigod, you guys. I just got the best idea last night. I totally know how I'm going to end the story now. Instead of it being one short story, it's going to be a series of short stories- all mostly related- to make one big book. I was looking at it, and this story would be way too short if I tried to get it published. So I'm just going to do a lot of them and at the end, all of the characters will meet up and all hell will break of you who are reading Hex Hollow alongside this, Hex Hollow is the second book in the Other Side series- so yeah. I'm psyched!**

**Don't forget to review when you're done!**

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I was out like a light before my head even hit my pillow. Victor went out with _Vera_ to go hunting, and Callum was in the basement with Thankuji and the faerie. As odd as it sounds, I think Callum actually likes the faerie. He's always had too much testosterone to do more than tolerate other guys- but you should have seen the way his dark blue eyes lit up when the faerie suggested a few techniques of torture that they used for trespassers in their forest. It was adorable. Like a school bully meeting another bully and realizing that they would be more terrifying together than apart. And the faerie was cool- I just wished I knew his name so that I could stop calling him 'faerie'

I tossed in bed, trying to shut off the mental babble and start dreaming. After two hours of laying in bed, you'd think I would be dreaming already. No such luck.

Instead, I bumped into a warm, solid, figure. My eyes shot open and could only faintly make out the glowing aura in front of me.

"Callum, what's wrong. What do you want?" I mumbled sleepily into my pillow.

"Nothing. Just making sure you're okay" He whispered. I frowned. If I hadn't been awake already, that certainly got me up.

"What do you mean?" I asked sitting up. I felt his hand brush across my jaw and his thumb lightly trace my lower lip before he dropped his hand with a sigh.

"It's nothing. I'll tell you tomorrow. Go back to sleep, Echo" He said softly.

As if his words were the only thing that I needed, I slowly nodded off to sleep again, ignoring the alarm bells that were ringing in the back of my head.

* * *

I turned over in Callum's arms and yawned softly, snuggling closer to his warmth.

"No" He grumbled "Go away, you're cold"

"That's because you're hogging all the blankets" I growled. Callum peeked an eye open at me and pulled some of the blankets over me as he tugged me closer.

"There" He mumbled groggily "Happy?"

I smiled against my pillow and nodded, kissing him softly on the lips. When I pulled back, he was staring at me, but his expression gave nothing away. Instead, he just tugged me closer, and wrapped an arm around my waist, encasing me in his warmth. It was odd, because up until now, I just realized that I actually was happy. I felt blissful and content laying with Callum. And I got that annoying urge to place butterfly kisses all over his body as he hugged me close to him like this.

I knew this feeling that was spreading through me as I lay there- and I tried with every fiber of my being not to feel it. A deep fear raised through me, cancelling out the earlier feeling. I was torn.

But neither boys were forcing me to choose. There was no pressure, right?

That was selfish, though. It wasn't right to have two guys fighting over me just because I couldn't make up my mind. And soon they would hate me for it, not now-or tomorrow- but they will. They'll hate me for stringing them along, unable to choose. It would hurt their pride more than anything, I guessed. And I wouldn't let that happen. I needed to hurry up and make my mind up.

_Easy to say, when one of the guys is out seducing a girl so that he can rip her throat out, and the other has his arms wrapped around you _A bitter voice said in the back of my head. I told it to shut up. I suddenly didn't feel so happy. I actually felt sick to my stomach.

I hopped from the bed and quietly out of the bedroom with Cilla hot on my tail as I went.

I found it odd, that Callum stayed sound asleep. He was always up before me.

I suppose it was all the energy he used yesterday, and the few hours of sleep he'd had before that.

When I entered the kitchen, I was surprised to see that it wasn't empty. Sitting at the breakfast bar, was the faerie. He nodded his head in greeting as he took a bite from some sort of meat sandwich. Cilla licked her chops as she saw this and the faerie tossed her the other half of his sandwich.

I turned to him as I poured myself a glass of orange juice.

"So is this your first time being outside of the forest?" I asked. The faerie raised his eyebrows in thought and shook his head.

"No. I've been outside a few times before. Never this faraway or for so long before" He replied in a velvety voice.

I found myself wishing that I had a velvety voice. It would make speaking to a person, and knowing that they're listening much easier when your voice makes every word sound like its been gift-wrapped in warm chocolate and laced with caramel. And now I wanted chocolate. What's up with me this morning?

"So what's your name?" I asked suddenly. "I'm sure it can be pretty annoying to be called 'faerie' all the time"

The faerie shrugged lightly. "You may call me Fallon, if you insist on calling me by a name"

I puzzled over his statement. What?

"Well it's nice to meet you, Fallon. I'm Echo"

He nodded slowly "I know who you are" He said before taking another bite from his sandwich.

"So how did things go last night?" I asked, trying to keep the conversation running. Fallon raised his golden eyes to me, looking amused.

"Not as well as your Death Walker had hoped. The demon, got away" He said coolly.

"What?" I screeched "Got away, how?"

"I'm not entirely sure." Fallon replied "He's much more powerful than either of us gave him credit for. He did this thing to the golden one, had him cringing and writhing on the floor. Then he impaled me on a pole- and just walked out"

I stared at the faerie, wide-eyed.

So, the demon. The ancient, powerful demon, was on the loose. And worse, he knew where we were staying so he could come back and take his revenge anytime?

Sweet Mother Mary, we were in deep shit. I took a sip of juice as I thought this through, trying to remain calm.

At least now I know why Callum had come to make sure I was alright, and then slept in. His body was still recovering from whatever attack Thankuji had used on him. God, I was really starting to hate demons.

That was about the time that Callum came down the stairs and into the kitchen. He still had bed-head and was only wearing a pair of sweats. As my brain worked through possible ways that we could fix the situation, and came up with nothing, I could feel the forewarnings of a headache coming on.

It was too early in the god-damn morning or night or whatever to have a headache.

Callum took the carton of juice from my hands and poured himself a glass. As he did so, I watched his biceps spasm and convulse like a surface earth quake. I gasped and stepped toward him, placing my hand over one of the spasms.

"Don't worry about it" Callum muttered "It's just a side-effect of last night"

"What did he do to you?" I demanded, catching the slight wince he made when he raised the glass to his lips.

"Nothing. I'm fine" Callum replied in a clipped voice.

"You are _not_ fine!" I argued. Callum's irritated eyes snapped to me, warning to leave the subject alone.

"Valerian root" said a smooth voice. We both turned to Fallon "He needs Valerian root"

I nodded and turned back to Callum. "You stay here" I commanded. When he only rolled his eyes I shook him lightly.

"I'm serious, Callum. I don't want you going after Thankuji- not yet. Just stay here, and we'll be back soon"

We stared at each other for a long time, and finally, he nodded.

"Okay" I whispered, brushing my fingers over his cheek, my hand found his and I brought it to my lips placing a chaste kiss on the back of his hand before I turned back to Fallon.

"Alright, c'mon. We need to get back here before Victor does. I have no doubt in my mind that you both will have hell to pay for letting the demon get away"

"Been there, done that" Callum muttered "If I thought that I was replying to someone who would ever return to the world, this flame would cease to flicker. But since no one ever returns from these depths alive, if what I've heard is true, I will answer you without fear of infamy."

I rolled my eyes and Fallon lifted his eyebrows appreciatively.

"Dante's inferno, Canto 27, lines 61-66, if I'm correct." Fallon observed "Impressive"

"Yes, because there is nothing more impressive than quoting Dante Alighieri, to add a bit more angst to the situation. Now let us be on our way" I said sarcastically, walking towards the door. I thrust it opened to see none other than Victor himself, standing beside Vera with a bag of herbs in his hands.

He raised his eyebrows curiously as he leaned against the door frame.

"I heard someone needed valerian root?" He asked. I nodded, sending with it: _How the heck did you know that?_

He shrugged "A well fed vampire knows just about everything." He sighed, and turned his dark eyes on Fallon and Callum who had followed me to the door "Like how a certain few let a particularly powerful demon just _walk out_ without so much as a scratch to show for it"

Victor roughly tossed Callum the valerian root and raised his dark eyebrows at the faerie.

"Mind explaining?"

The faerie, Fallon, sighed. "I'd rather not repeat myself. Especially since you already know what happened. So rather than waste time going through details, why not come up with a plan to rid ourselves of the parasite once and for all"

Callum cast a dark glance towards Victor as he rubbed the putrid smelling valerian root over his skin with a grimace "Which one?" He asked bitingly.

Victor rolled his eyes and gestured towards the living room.

I had the sense that today was going to be extremely draining- mentally. Mostly because I would be watching Vera like a hawk. The long-legged fiend. I wondered bleakly if she could hear my thoughts like Victor could. I should probably do a better job of censoring them, in that case.

"Ugh, can you go somewhere else with that?" Vera complained, nodding towards Callum's valerian root "It smells awful"

The look that crossed Callum's face was almost comical. He looked like he wanted to grab the nearest thing and bash the female vampire over the head with it.

His blue eyes narrowed to thin slits and he glared at her menacingly.

"No ones telling you, that you have to stay" He growled "The doors right behind you. Hope it beats the shit out of you on the way out"

Fallon and I snickered at Callum's resourceful play on words and silenced at Victor's reproachful glare.

So sensitive…

Vera managed a very convincing 'put-out' look and flipped her raven hair from her face, fixing hazel brown eyes on Callum.

"Whatever" She said darkly. He raised his eyebrows, lips twitching, and turned away.

"I'm going back to sleep" He muttered as he passed me. I turned swiftly to follow his retreat and called after him.

"Drink lots of water! But don't make your self sick. Two and a half glasses should do"

He flipped me off.

I smirked, biting my lip and shaking my head at his golden, retreating, figure.

"Well isn't _he_ a charmer" Vera hissed, when Callum was out of sight.

"When it comes to girls, he usually is. He must not like you" I said without thinking, and winced internally. Vera grinned wickedly at me, challengingly.

"Or maybe he likes me more than he's willing to admit. He just doesn't want to get you jealous, so he plays it off by acting obnoxiously insulting and aggressive to me." She said in a sugary voice. It felt like the room had just been air-locked and sealed. Victor sucked in a breath and held it, Fallon went still at my side, and I narrowed my eyes to the most malicious glare I could manage. And if looks could kill…she would have been seared, fried, chopped, and served to us for dinner. Cheeky bitch. Finally, forcing my deep, irrational, hatred for this vampire girl aside, I took a deep calming breath and exhaled.

"No" I said in a bitingly cold voice. She winced as if the words sliced through her. For all I knew, they could have- what with learning about my new nymph/fallen angel abilities. Perhaps I could use that as an excuse to keep this thing with Victor, Callum, and I going a little longer until I decided what I wanted?

The explanations formed in my head as I thought about it. 'I'm a nymph. Don't they like sex? I could always get more done with two rather than one"

Mental note: Ew, gross. Cross that one off the list.

'I'm part Fallen Angel, aren't I? Well didn't they get kicked out of heaven -gah!- I've got nothing'

I gave Vera a measuring look. "He goes more for the maiden in distress type of thing. Honestly, there's no way you're a maiden. And you're too bitter to ever admit that you're in distress, so…"

Fallon covered his laughing with a fit of coughs.

I smiled innocently and left the room- feeling in desperate need of a shower.

* * *

A bottle of lavender and white lotus oil later- I stepped from the shower feeling refreshed and clean. I swear, since I've come to the Other Side, I haven't been able to stay clean for more than a thirty minute period. It was getting quite irritating.

There was a flash of gold and I almost dropped my towel, to throw my hands up in the air in fright- almost. Instead, I brought my palm to my chest, my heart was beating rapidly beneath the flesh.

"Jesus, Callum. You scared me. Have you ever heard of knocking. Or checking to make sure the person whose privacy you're invading is at least decent before you come in." I scolded.

He grinned wildly at me from where he was lounging on my bed, with his fingers intertwined behind his head.

"Actually, I make sure that they aren't decent so that I can have conversations much like the one we're having now." He replied coolly. I rolled my eyes and ran back into my bathroom to throw on an oversized pajama shirt and some pajama shorts. When I walked back into my bedroom, Callum was in the same exact position.

"I thought you were going back to sleep" I accused.

"I was, but after last night I realized how much more comfortable your bed is compared to mine. It's a scandal"

I scowled, crossing my arms over my chest. Callum watched me the way a predator would watch it's prey.

"Honestly, though, I came to cash in on my reward" He said suddenly, grinning like a madman.

I flushed a bright red and stumbled over lame excuses that made Callum growl. In a flash of light he was standing in front of me. I gasped and took a step back- feeling dizzy.

"Well," Callum drawled, licking his front teeth "It's not really up to you"

Before I could protest, warm, strong arms wrapped around my waist pulling me against a broad chest. I gasped at the force with which he held me, and Callum took that split second to crash his mouth down on mine.

Having Callum kiss me was nothing like Victor kissing me.

Victor was gentle, and careful- like he was afraid to break me. Callum was brusque and passionate- like he was trying to mold his body to mine, or just _trying_ to break me. I had my hopes on the first. His kiss also made me _feel _different than the way Victor's did. With Victor, it was like being plunged in freezing water and then tossed out onto a warm, sandy, beach. Exhilarating and vivid. With Callum, it was completely different.

I didn't feel like anything was _happening_ to me. Just this feeling that swelled in my chest and then spread to every inch and fiber of myself. I could feel it in my ears, in my fingertips, in my lips…like being in the eye of a sandstorm. You could feel the tiny particles brushing along your flesh like the licks of a feather, you could feel the warm wind surround you in that feeling of safety mixed with suffocation. That's what it was like kissing Callum. He somehow managed to squeeze me closer against him and deepened the kiss until I was reduced to nothing more that a sweating, panting, wide-eyed, idiot in need of another shower. A cold one.

Callum pulled back slowly, but kept his face close enough so that our lips were still barely touching. I felt like my heart would burst, either that or I would feint.

Callum held me closer to him as my knees began to wobble and I clutched at his shoulders as he smiled against my lips, brushing my hair behind my ear and kissing me passionately one more time.

As he pulled away, I let out a shaky breath.

"I'm quite intrigued by the effect I seem to have on you" Callum commented "I may have to explore this new development further"

I smiled and rested my head against his shoulder- still afraid that I wouldn't be able to stand on my own.

"You don't look so good" He teased "Maybe you should drink some water. Not enough to make you sick though. Two and a half glasses should do"

I laughed against his shoulder and swatted his chest.

"You're an asshole"

He shrugged against me. "Really? I've been told by quite a few people that I'm rather charming"

I shook my head, taking a step away.

"A charming asshole, then" I sighed.

He turned to me with mischief in his eyes. "You know, that kiss got me pretty worked up. I think I may need a shower. Care to join me?"

I gave him a half amused half incredulous look. The nerve.

"Hm. Funny, I didn't take you to be a water nymph on our first meeting" said a familiar lilting voice that made my blood freeze in the veins.

Callum went completely still in front of me and was glaring murderously behind me. I turned to see the demon, Thankuji, sitting in my window sill draping one of his legs over it.

My eyes went wide in shock and fear. What do I do?

Knowing that the supernaturals downstairs would hear me I opened my mouth to scream. Before I could even suck in the air, I was flying across the room with a bruising pain in my gut. I landed on the floor with a small 'thud' and groaned.

Thankuji tsked at me before sending another wave of power towards Callum since he was charging the demon. Instead of flying across the room, Callum froze completely. He let out a hiss- his eyes flashed gold with pure unadulterated hatred. But it was _more _than hatred. There weren't words do describe the look in Callum's eyes as he glared at the laughing demon.

"I knew you two would be fun" The demon sighed, clapping his hands together.

To my relief, my door burst open and Victor appeared looking as malevolent as the devil himself- Fallon and Vera stood behind him. I saw Victor's body begin to blur- as he started to do that vampire super-speed thing but he stopped dead with only twelve words from Thankuji.

"I'll kill her if you take one more step into this room" He threatened, eyes flashing red.

I had no doubt in my mind as to who he was talking about. I glanced over at Callum and saw the color drain from his face when he realized that the demon was serious.

"You'll be dead before that can happen" Victor snarled.

Without warning, a searing indescribable pain swept through my entire body- forcing my eyes to roll back in my head. I convulsed on the floor unable to even get the breath to scream. The pain was unimaginable, it was like being set on fire, eaten alive, having my bones broken by a sledgehammer, and my tongue ripped out all in one. But I would have chosen all of those over this. They didn't even compare to this pain. Those few seconds felt like an eternity. An eternity of being in so much pain that it drained you dry. An eternity of so much pain that you wanted to die. Dying the slowest, most painful death would be better than having to endure one more second of _this_.

Finally, it stopped and my seizures ceased. A loud sob tore through my lips and I turned on my side, curling into a tiny ball. Warm tears stinging my cheeks as they stremed down my face.

I could barely make out the roars of fury coming from Callum and Victor.

"You sick son of a bitch!"

"I'll kill you! I swear it! I'll rip your eyes out and wear them like a keychain!"

I felt the warm tears streaming down my face but didn't think I had the strength to wipe them away.

Is this what Thankuji had done to Callum? How had he even had the strength to climb all of those stairs and come into my bedroom- just to make sure I was okay.

"That was just a glimpse of what I can do" Thankuji said, in that voice that dipped five octaves lower than his usual musical lilt "Did you know that if I kept that up long enough- it could actually break bones? Even stop her heart? Killing her would be easy- and I'll do it if you so much as move. She'll die in agony"

"We get the point" Victor snarled viciously. I saw the same deep hatred reflected in his eyes as had been in Callum's- and then I was being lifted to my feet. When I noticed who was doing the lifting, I found my voice again and began screaming and screeching. Lashing out, using my fingernails like claws. Thankuji, slammed my head hard enough against the wall that I heard a crack and began seeing little white specks at the edges of my darkening vision, there was a collective gasp of pure shock and fury that resonated throughout the room- but I was too far gone. Soon, I was floating off into darkness only hearing the distant voices of those who I cared most about.

"NO! Damn you! Thankuji, leave her!"

"You stop this RIGHT NOW! Don't you dare touch her!"

I gave up my fighting for consciousness. I didn't want to be awake for whatever was happening.

And soon enough, the blackness took over completely. Leaving me alone to my thoughts and fears.

* * *

**I expect some reviews after updating so quickly, so get to it!**


	18. Chapter 18

**Wow! The feedback for the last chap was amazing- keep it up guys! And check out timecontroller's new story Past Essence, when you're done!  
**

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_**Victor's POV**_

Victor paced about Echo's room angrily, completely ignoring the fit that Callum was having. He never understood where the boy got this need to throw things around the room like a toddler with no sense of self-control. Of course, he completely contradicted himself when he threw out a fist and smashed it against the wall with all the force and Power he could send out. Sometimes, it just felt good to hit something.

Victor only now noticed that he was snarling and growling like an angry dog- easily mimicking the hell hound that was pacing in the far corner anxiously.

He glanced at the faerie, Fallon, who seemed to be trancing- what the hell for, Victor had no clue. His eyes then flipped over to Vera who was biting her lip and staring at the floor in deep thought. Lastly, Victor glanced at Callum who seemed to be too angry to even speak. He actually looked like he might explode- that, or kill something in an agonizingly slow fashion. His eyes were the same dark blue but were now streaked with an angry ray of gold that passed right over his pupils.

It was actually, Victor admitted, very frightening.

Victor struggled to push down his own anger for a fraction of a second so that he could manage to get a few words out. It was a painful task.

"We need to get her back" He said in a strained voice, feeling his inner fury begin to bubble up inside. Callum took some time of his own to settle down, resting his forehead against the wall with closed eyes. After a few moments, Callum raised his head and stared back at Victor with only a spark of gold left in his eyes compared to the full-blown line that had been there before.

"And we need to be careful about it or else he'll see it coming and kill her" Callum added in a shaking voice.

"So what do we do?" The faerie asked. The boys stared at each other, puzzled. Now was one of those times when they could have used Echo's scheming and plotting. Luckily, they had another schemer and plotter on tap.

"I've got an idea" Vera said, speaking for the first time since Echo had been taken. She turned her warm, hazel eyes on Victor. "You told me that you had that boy install a tracking spell on the both of you. We can use that to find her. We'll have to shield our auras so that he won't sense us coming and then one of us will need to get close enough to bind his powers- although, I think it may take more than one person to do that effectively. While that's being done, we get the girl out and then get the hell out of dodge. This time making sure that the demon doesn't escape. Simple"

Simple. Too simple for any of the boys to have come up with it. This is why they needed girls around, Victor reminded himself.

"I'm going to need to feed again" Victor muttered.

"Me too" Vera sighed.

Callum was now pacing about the room as he chanted something in a language as sharp as razors.

_Was that…_ Victor thought, _Enochian, he was speaking? The language of the angels? Where on earth had he learned that._

Somewhere in between his chanting, Callum managed to say.

"Yes. Go, we need to be in top shape"

Victor nodded as Fallon turned to Callum with a cocked head.

"What is that you're doing?" The faerie asked "Your aura is becoming extremely bright and powerful"

At first, Victor didn't think Callum was going to reply- he seemed too enrapt in his chanting. But after a few moments he said.

"Calling on the angels for help" He said quietly before returning to his chanting.

Victor was flabbergasted. He hadn't ever taken Callum to be a person who believed in such things- surely, he wouldn't have done the things he has if he wanted to go to heaven someday. And then the answer hit Victor like a slap in the face. Callum was a Death Walker. They didn't get heaven. They got _this_. The Other Side.

But still, he found it odd that the angels would answer Callum's calls and help him even after everything the boy had done.

Maybe there was hope for Victor, afterall. He doubted it. And didn't really care either way.

Instead of pondering anything further- he grabbed Vera by the arm and led her from the room.

This time, Victor hunted more violently than necessary- sometimes even wasting pints of blood. He wasn't out for blood. He just wanted to kill something.

* * *

_**Echo's POV**_

I heard the sound of wind blowing rapidly outside. It made me shiver violently against stone floor.

Stupid, god-damned demon! God, I could kill him.

Before I could finish my thought, I went flying across the stone room and into the wall- breathing out a hiss of pain.

In a flash Thankuji, was yanking me up from where I slumped down on the ground and heaving me to my feet. He brought his face centimeters away from mine and smirked.

His breath smelled resinous- like a forest of pine trees. It was unnerving.

"Not so tough now, are ya'?" The demon cackled, red eyes glinting.

I smiled, biting my lip to keep from laughing. Eventually it burst forth and I was howling in the demons face like he had said the funniest thing I had ever heard. The truth, was that I was probably in shock- and suffering from that earlier head slam to the wall. My fingers went up to touch my scalp and found it wet. When I brought my hand back down it was covered in dark blood.

"What's so funny?" The demon hissed in my face with such vehemence that I was frightened flames might shoot from his nostrils. I shook it off and smiled again.

"As I recall, when you were in a similar situation- you weren't so tough yourself" I replied. Thankuji struck, fast as lightning and hit me across the face- sending me flailing rather ungracefully to the ground. I licked the blood from the corner of my lip and smiled inwardly. If he thought he was intimidating me- he was dead wrong. Pain could be a useful weapon- but in the hands of someone who didn't know how to use it, pain was useless. Just a bullying mechanism.

That's what Thankuji was- nothing more than a bully.

I licked my lips slowly and narrowed my eyes- feeling that headache at full force.

"You're going to wish you hadn't done that" I glowered.

Thankuji threw his head back and laughed. The idiot.

I took the chance- since he was looking away- and tackled him. I used everything I had my fingernails to gouge at his eyes, my fists to break his face, my legs to bruise his bones, and I even managed to send him a taste of his own medicine when I sent Power attacks. Using my mind to cause him pain.

Within a matter of seconds he had me crumpled on the floor, writhing and convulsing in the same excruciating pain that I had endured at the mansion. I tried to remind myself to somehow breathe through it- but it was impossible.

I had the faint sense that Thankuji was kneeling beside me as he spoke.

"You're a strong little thing, aren't you?" He commented "I'd like to see how long I can keep this up"

Suddenly, the pain increased to twice as insufferable. I felt like I was going to burst an artery and die, my head was throbbing so painfully. And with each shock and spasm that rocked my body- my heart clenched horribly. I felt my back arch grotesquely and knew that I was going to die as a more severe pain spread through my right arm. It was broken.

Somehow, I still couldn't bring myself to scream. It wasn't because I didn't have the air or strength to do it. I had managed to scream pretty well in the most trying of times. I couldn't bring myself to scream- because I didn't want to.

I didn't want to give this monster the satisfaction.

He knew that I was in pain by my convulsions- but I wouldn't let him know how much pain I was in, truly.

So I just prayed that my heart would stop and end this agony.

Of course, I should have known Thankuji would never let that happen. The pain he was inflicting faded, but there were still shadows of it that wouldn't let me be still.

I was still convulsing and spasming on the ground several minutes after he had gotten up and left the room.

Unable to shake the exhaustion, I simply closed my eyes and drifted off- knowing I wouldn't be able to move anyway.

Callum, Victor, where are you?

* * *

_**Callum's POV**_

This was getting beyond ridiculous. He needed to stop now.

Callum knew that by this time, he was more than capable of killing an entire army of Thankuji's with a single thought- but he still couldn't make himself stop summoning more power and more angels to come to his aid. It wasn't because he was addicted to the power- it was because of Echo.

He could afford himself no mistakes- not one.

And to make sure that nothing went wrong he needed to be more powerful than the holy creator himself. Far more powerful.

But he was pretty sure that he had reached that point about ten minutes ago, now he was just summoning out of paranoia.

While Victor was away, he had embellished the plan to be more fitting of his own style. He raised an entire army of over five-hundred zombies and another six skinless Death Walkers. He had winced at that part- even felt a little guilty. But it had to be done. He would _not_ let the demon get away with this. Not this time.

Echo belonged to him. No one else.

He would humor the blood-sucker in to thinking that they were both fighting for her- but Callum knew.

Echo's blood-sucker was too safe for her. He had no doubt in his mind that when it came to Echo's personal tastes- he was the better man. And in the end, it would be Callum she was with. So how _dare_ that demon take her from him!

Callum would kill him.

He would rip his face off and pour acid on the wounds- because that's what Echo would want. And then, Callum would make the demon kneel before her and kiss her feet before he silenced the parasite forever. Callum used that little hope to stop himself- before he sucked up more power than he could control and turned to the door as Victor and Vera walked through the door.

The vampire's dark gray aura was a dim beacon compared to Callum's glorious, golden beams. He smirked to himself.

_I'll always be better than you, leech._ He thought nastily.

He felt the mental stab of Power that Victor sent to him in reply. Before he could retaliate the vampire was already talking.

"What the hell did you do?" He hissed "How are you going to push all of that down?"

Callum guessed that he was referring to his aura, and he painfully pulled it back into himself- hiding all of it so that he only glowed slightly. The glow a normal human would let off.

"I've got it handled, vampire" Callum smirked "What about yourself?"

Victor rolled his eyes and Callum watched with a predator's eyes as Victor concealed his aura.

_We're more powerful than anyone has the right to be, _he thought smugly _I like it._

"Are we ready?" Fallon asked them. He looked at the faerie without the slightest bit of animosity and nodded.

"We all know what we have to do?" Callum returned, glancing at each face as he walked towards the window where his zombie army waited.

"I guess we'll see you there?" Victor asked coolly.

Callum gritted his teeth. He assumed that the reason he hated Victor so much was how he always managed to keep his cool- his control. _That, _had spurned the irrational hatred Callum had for Victor far before Echo came along.

"Guess so" He muttered, jumping from the window and walking up to his zombie army- blue eyes, gleaming gold.

"Who's looking for a fight?" He asked them with a wicked grin.

* * *

_**Echo's POV**_

I rolled over as a loud crash sounded from outside the iron door; waking me up. The first crash was followed by several others and a few seconds later Thankuji strolled into my room looking a little peeved.

"Your friends are quicker than I thought. I'm going to have to end things a little quickly." He said as he hoisted me up into the air by my hair.

I grit my teeth, finding the will to live again and kicked my legs out, catching him in the spot that hurts the most. He dropped me along with the sharp demon blade he had been carrying and I used some of my Power to keep him still while I ran for the door.

I should have guessed that he would break my binding spell rather quickly- what with being an ancient demon and all. But it still shocked me to be running for the door one millisecond and then into his arms the next.

"On second thought," The demon hissed as his eyes went red and his teeth elongated into that of a piranha's "I have a better idea"

He arched his head towards my throat and I screamed in fright and fury kicking against him.

Within the next millisecond he was on the floor writhing and convulsing. I backed away cautiously as the door burst open and Callum appeared- looking like an avenging angel. Victor strode up beside him looking like an angel of death. Both of their eyes were locked on the demon writhing on the floor.

Victor was glaring furiously.

And Callum was…grinning wickedly so I assumed that he was the one inflicting pain on the demon. He glanced up at me and smiled that innocent, boyish smile.

"Hey toots. How's it hangin'?" He asked casually.

I winced and held up my arm. "Limp and a little grotesquely" I replied.

My arm was broken from the elbow and it was hanging pretty grotesquely and absurdly.

Callum's face went slack and Victor appeared in front of me, handling the appendage extremely gently. I watched as Callum's slack face lit back up with a fire I had never witnessed before and he directed that fury to the demon.

Thankuji actually screamed.

"Here" Victor sighed, as he bit into his wrist. I stared at him, appalled.

"I don't want to drink your blood _again_." I complained.

Apparently, the matter wasn't up for discussion. Victor grabbed me by the hair and yanked me against his wrist in a manner that said fighting would not be tolerated.

Freaking vampires.

The rest of the night turned out to be quite pleasant. And rather full of surprises. I enjoyed watching Callum kill Thankuji- and I had to commend him on the technique and creativity.

Callum skinned the demon- much like the demon had skinned our fellow Death Walkers- and then he poured acid on him. Then he made the demon kiss my feet before he had Victor rip Thankuji's head off. As sick as it sounds…I laughed a little.

My boys sure knew how to put on a show.

Now all I had to worry about was who I was going to be sharing my bed with now.

Victor had been my bedmate before- but with this new development with Callum- I wasn't sure how that would mull over with the golden-haired Death Walker.

I think maybe, I liked it better when I was able to sleep by myself. But who am I kidding? It's the Other Side. You either go big or go to Hell.

I scratched my arm idly as I glided over the destruction outside. (well. I wasn't gliding. Callum and Victor were doing the gliding. They just held me between them so that I was flying too. Until I learned how to use my fallen angel wings- this would be my means of travel)

I surely hope Hell doesn't have any vacancies right now…


	19. Grand Finale

_**URGENT: **_**well, my lovelies. It appears that my characters have decided to end it here. There will be a sequel, I'm working out the details now- so don't worry about that. And don't throw things at me after you're done reading this either. I did what felt right! Review and tell me your thoughts!**

I sat up in bed as Victor walked in. Apparently, I wouldn't be sleeping alone tonight, afterall. Victor cut the thought short, when he paused beside me bed.

"I came to tell you I'm leaving" Victor said in a reserved voice.

I felt a small, piercing pain twist up my insides, and I shot up in bed.

"Leaving? Where are you going? What's going on?" I said in a hushed tone.

A small smile tugged up Victor's lips and he pulled me against his chest, caressing my hair.

"I'm not leaving anywhere- I'm just not staying in this house anymore. Vera and I found a coven of vampires near the fey territory. All of this…that's happened has made me realize how long it's been since I've been with my own kind."

I pulled away to glare at him. "You're leaving with _Vera_?"

Victor growled under his breath and I crossed my arms over my chest.

"Is this some scam to make me jealous?" I asked. Victor feigned offense.

"Absolutely not" He said "Why? Is it working?"

"Not a chance" I replied, revealing a slow smile. Victor gave a small smile and narrowed his eyes.

"You say that now…" He coaxed

I snickered and he pulled me into a kiss. This kiss, terrified me. It was passionate and desperate, and _vulnerable_. Everything in me screamed -Don't let it end! Don't let him leave!

When Victor pulled away, I stared at him unsurely.

"Victor…" I started, reaching for his arm "What are you doing. What aren't you telling me?"

When he couldn't bring himself to look at me, I got worried. Instead, he pinched the bridge of his nose and stared at the floor.

"You probably…won't see me… for awhile" He gritted out. I felt my brain surging into overtime, trying to figure out what he meant by this- what was he saying? That he's leaving me?

"Yes" Victor said coldly, in reply to my thoughts. I looked around unsurely, searching for anything that could save me from this as my eyes filled up with tears.

"But why?" I cried.

Victor looked like what he was trying to say, was causing him physical pain "Because, you can't see it- but I do. I see how your aura lights up whenever _he's_ in the room, how you share those faint glances and smiles that only you understand. I see how he looks at you- and it kills me because _I _can't do that. _I _can't make you feel happy and safe like that. I can't be _warm_ to you Echo. I didn't choose to become what I am now- but I can't change who I am either. I'm not giving up on you Echo, I just want you to understand that there was nothing for me to give up on. You were never mine to begin with, I killed your parents-"

"You didn't know at the time-"

"It doesn't matter" Victor hissed vehemently "I can't do this anymore! I can't stay here. I belong with my kind- and you belong with yours"

I angrily wiped the tears from my face and glared at him. "So that's it then. You're just going to make up my mind for me- and leave, like a coward"

Something flashed behind Victor's eyes and he whirled on me. "I am not a coward. I just know when I've lost! If you think that I'm wrong- then prove it to me. Come with me Echo"

I couldn't believe this was happening. _My_ Victor, the calm and collected vampire, was making me choose. But it was an impossible choice! I love them both! There, I said it- I love them.

_But you're only __**in**__ love with one_ Victor said mentally, his voice reverberating inside my head.

"How do you know it's not you?" I challenged, tearfully. Victor grabbed me by the arms and shook me roughly.

"Stop it! Stop lying to yourself and stop lying to me, damnit. Now either tell me that you're going to stay- or tell me that you're coming with me."

I stared into Victor's fathomless eyes and wanted with all my heart, with every inch of my being to say those words : _I'll come_. But when I opened my mouth- they wouldn't come. I felt myself becoming frustrated and angry and most of all, sorry. Sorry more than anything.

"It's not you fault" Victor said gruffly "Birds of a feather…

"Flock together" I finished. I looked back up at Victor, begging him with my eyes to wait. To just stay, and I would make him happy.

He gave me a soft smile and raised one of his perfect eyebrows as he caressed my cheek.

"You already have" he said quietly, and then he bent down to kiss me again. "This isn't goodbye, Echo. I'll see you again" He whispered against my lips; and then I was alone in my bedroom, will Cilla giving me a concerned look.

I stared at my shaking hands helplessly and sat down on the bed, putting my head in my palms.

After crying mutely for a few minutes (or maybe an hour), I wiped my eyes and took a deep breath. There was something I had to do, now. I brushed through my hair, and straightened out my chemise before sending Cilla a warning look, telling her to stay there. She replied by yawning and falling back to sleep. Then, I crept down the hall to Callum's room.

I knocked on the door softly, and got no reply.

"Callum?" I called. Still nothing.

Slowly, I turned the door knob and walked into the room- freezing almost immediately. There were candles everywhere. They took up almost every inch of the room, and let off a warm glow and a very sweet smell. Some time recently, the bed had been turned into a canopy bed and now had white gossamer fabric hanging from the iron bars, the canopy looked like it had been adorned with diamonds and rose petals and the bed itself had a plush, burgundy silk, comforter.

"What do you think?" asked a familiar voice. I turned to see Callum standing in the middle of the room. His golden mane was brushed carelessly out of his eyes and he had on a black dress shirt and some black slacks, in his hands he was holding a bouquet of black magic roses, and on his face was a hopeful smile. I felt the urge to cry again.

I smiled at him and looked around again "What is all this?"

Callum took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "This is me- trying and probably failing miserably to be a romantic gentleman. I've never been very good at expressing emotions other than anger, so feeling like I do now, it's kind of hard to tell you what I want to tell you. I spent most of this evening, watching chick flicks with Fallon to see which act of love would get the best reaction out of you. I'm only telling you this, because if you're super freaked out right now, I'm sure the thought of me watching chick movies with a faerie is going to make you laugh"

I did laugh.

"I trust you, Echo. When I first met you, I thought I had it all figured out- and you completely proved me wrong. I know that we've known each other for, only a few weeks, but I want you. Forever. I'll give it all up- the power, the greed, the bitterness- just as long as you're by my side-"

I had to stop him. It was almost painful to watch him stumble over his words, trying to placate me into choosing him. This boy- the most infuriating, cruel, insane, charismatic, charming, beautiful person I had ever met had done all of this for me. There was an aching in my heart as I thought of this, it was a good aching.

I drew Callum near me and fisted my fingers through his hair, bringing us so close that we were nose to nose.

"Callum Black" I sighed "What on earth am I going to do with you?"

Callum grinned wolfishly at me.

"You went through all of this- and you still can't spit it out?" I demanded. Callum sucked his teeth and his blue eyes shined with mischief.

"I think you're going to have to force them out of me" He drawled, cocking his head to kiss me. I backed away, smiling myself.

"Go on, say it" I said.

"You say it!"

"No, you have to say it first. I'm sure you've watched enough chick flicks to know how the process goes"

"Shut up."

"I will, when you say it"

"…"

"God, you're impossible!" I groaned

Callum laughed and pulled me against him. "I'm not going to say it yet. I'll make you a deal though. The next time we're in perilous danger- I'll scream it at the top of my lungs, and you have to do the same"

I laughed and wrapped my arms around his neck.

"Deal" I whispered.

Callum kissed me and I lost myself in bliss. He was mine. All mine. I could feel the warmth radiating off of him as he deepened the kiss and nibbled against my bottom lip. Soon, it became a war between our tongues as both fought for dominance over the other. I didn't notice that we had made it to the bed. Just the closeness. I only noticed Callum, and the way his bare skin felt against mine. My fingers traveled over his scars as I wrapped my legs around his waist, and clung to him. I never wanted this closeness to end, I never wanted to feel the end of his mouth trailing kisses up my jaw and throat, or his hands grazing along my waist. I wanted this. I wanted it forever. I kissed Callum again, my hand stroking his face fondly. He kissed me back passionately and fiercely. I moaned against his mouth, and pulled away panting heavily.

Sometime during the night, after I had given everything I was to Callum, and he, everything to me. I drifted off into a peaceful sleep; wrapped protectively in Callum's arms.

* * *

I woke up the next morning feeling a little sore but radiantly happy. Last night, I had made love for the first time. That thought sent a little jolt through my body. I turned to my right to see that Callum's side of the bed was empty. My eyes traveled farther to see that the balcony doors were open, the glow of gold caught my eye and I wrapped the sheet around me before walking out to the balcony. Callum didn't look back as I approached, he stayed staring out at the night sky with his back to me. The way the moons glowed against his skin, turning everything silver made me shiver. He was like an angel.

Against the silver and gray of the balcony and Callum's skin, there was another color. It didn't belong there. The color appeared a dark maroon red in the moonlight- but it was actually a rich scarlet color. Blood. It was trailing down from where Callum stood and making its way towards me. I stared at it in horror.

"Xavier, my not-dad, will probably be back with more demons. To finish what he started" Callum said quietly, as if he were in a trance. "I'm getting tired of demons. I want them gone. All of them"

I couldn't tear my eyes away from the blood. Why was he bleeding?

"Well then, what are we going to do?" I asked, voice wavering.

"You see, that's just it. When I was asleep, I got this idea. A way for us to get Death Walkers back and to get rid of the demons"

"Callum, turn around"

When he turned around, there was a brilliant smile on his face. In one hand, he was carrying the golden dagger that the angel had given him, in the other there was a large bowl filled with blood, tinted gold. There was also a new, healing scar across his chest.

I groaned "You didn't!'

Callum was building himself up into that bubbly effervescent boy whose just discovered that Santa actually does exist.

"Think about it. Angels hate demons. I have angel blood in me and so do you. If we could go around and heal the dying while at the same time giving them the blood of angels- we could create a race of demon killing kind of sort of death walker/angels."

I sighed and knocked the bowl of blood from Callum's hand. It spilt all over the concrete, and he snapped his eyes to me; irritated.

"What The Hell?" He gritted. I cuffed him lightly on the head.

"Don't give me your attitude, Callum Black. Obviously you haven't thought this through, because you're only part angel or whatever, the rest is sorcerer. So why not just summon the angel who gave you her blood before and ask for more?"

Callum scratched his chin and smiled at me. "Good idea, you know-"

"No, no, no, no" I hushed, pulling him towards me. "We can talk about this later. Right now, there is no imminent danger." I pulled him to my level and kissed him sweetly. His arms snaked around my waist, and I knew in that moment, encased by his arms, that everything would be alright. We had survived death, so whatever life threw our way- we could take it. As long as I had Callum, my golden torch in this world of endless night and darkness, I would be okay. And knowing that, made me happier than any nymph/fallen angel ever had been before. Together, we were definitely capable of creating a whole race bent on the destruction of demons; and that's what we would do. As frightening as starting a war sounded, I trusted Callum endlessly. So, as we sat at the dining room table going over plans with Fallon, I smiled to myself. I finally had what I had wanted all along.

Somewhere to belong.

* * *

**Hooray! Look out for the sequel, its coming soon!**


	20. Author's note sequel

A quick author's note:

I have decided to remove my current Hallowed Ground story and replace it with something different.

I wasn't really happy with where I left the Death Walkers off at, and have decided that in the sequel, it will still be Echo's POV, she won't have kids with Callum, and basically the story will start off at like two weeks after the whole big she-bang with Thankuji. So yeah. Thought you guys would like to know.

Victor will remain one of the key characters, and Fallon and Vera will have much bigger parts, I'm contemplating doing whole chapters dedicated to the points of view of each character. I'm really excited about it, so yeah. Once I post it up here, and get all the details sorted out- it should be good.

-Signed, Madeline


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